Allen the Family

Grandpa Elden

2011-05-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

After a few years of health difficulties, including a severe case of Alzheimer's, my mother's father, Elden Page, passed away last Friday. I am in Idaho with Harper this week, helping with funeral preparations and reconnecting with my mom's family.

As part of those preparations, I've been pulling together the printed program for the funeral. Everyone decided it would be nice to feature several pictures from his life on the program. As we've sifted through a lifetime of photos, we've found some really great ones - ones that most of us had never seen.

My grandparents when they were young - what a handsome couple!

This is my grandpa as I love to remember him: swinging me and my brother around until we are exhausted from laughing.

We are so grateful that he isn't suffering any longer, but we'll definitely miss him and all of the great times we had together.

15 months... or 16... nope: 17

2011-04-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

I started a 15-month post months ago, then it turned to 16 months, and now we're at just about 17. I suppose I'll back-track a bit. But first, a quick hair update... we have curls!

At her 15 month appointment in early March, she weighed 22 pounds (25-50%) and was 31 3/4 inches (90%), which has been fairly normal. However, her head is now up to the 50% range (has been 25% until this trip)!

Harper had a rough few months early in the year. She had loads of colds and other illnesses, transitioning to cow's milk was pretty difficult, and the cold of winter has kept her inside more than she would have like. Her 15 month immunizations were pretty tough on her, causing her to spike a fever and be very cranky for quite a few days. The addition of new teeth and fluid in her ears extended her crankiness nearly two weeks (which explains how miserable she looks in the St. Pat's pictures). Then one Sunday we woke up, and our happy baby was back. We missed her!

Harper has really started to show us her personality. She seems to be a little shy at first, but with familiar people she is adorable and super affectionate. Like her dad, she is quite a tease and is very curious about how things around her work.

Her vocabulary is really taking off. We've officially entered the parrot stage, where she tries to mimic the same words we say. She has really perfected the use of the word "No" and says it with a certain attitude that makes it really difficult not to laugh out loud. Along with words, Harper loves animals and the noises they make. Her elephant impression is awesome.

Adi has found a special place in Harper's heart. We will often find Harper snuggling with the dog on the dog's bed. She loves to take Adi for walks and LOVES to hold her leash. She says "Adi" and "dog" more clearly than most words and is so excited to see her every morning.

Finally, It has to be recorded that Harper loves the park - especially slides. On my days off of work we can (and occasionally do) spend literally hours there with no complaints from her. In fact, when we aren't at the park, Harper spends loads of time sliding down the grassy hill in our front yard. You can tell she's having a great time when she squeals "WHEEE".

leaky

2011-03-29T20:28:00.001-07:00

photo courtesy of ehow.com

My bathtub faucet has become leaky over the last week. How does this happen? One week: no problems; the next: a leak that is actually more like a nearly running faucet. Seriously, I can hear the water running through the pipes constantly, and the water is HOT.

AND my repairman who usually fixes such leaks (if you can call this a leak) is away until Friday. Anyone know a good plumber?

Fingers crossed that I don't have to brave a cold shower in the morning.

Good Old St. Patty

2011-03-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Static

2011-02-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

For the last week all three of us have been sick. again. We're really tired of being sick.

So, to recall healthier days, please enjoy this gem.

Turns out that we needed to turn on the humidifier during the winter to avoid such static. Problem solved.

fun with a kiwi

2011-01-19T19:39:00.000-08:00

Today, I cut open a kiwi to discover this. Channeling my inner high school art student, I had some fun...

One Year - November 30, 2010

2011-01-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

On her birthday, I wrote the following list of notes about Harper.

Harper is a happy, happy little girl who likes to:

· Wrinkle her nose

· Twist her tongue

· Pat & rub her belly while bathing

· Say “ma ma ma ma”, “thanks”, “wow”, and “da da”

· Shake her finger when we say the word Monkey

· Dance to music

· Run away from someone who is chasing her

· Play peek-a boo

· Read & look at books

· Eat, not be fed

· Cuddle her dog

· Bark like a dog

· Look out our storm door & wave to people walking by

· Ride on shoulders

· Wave and flirt with strangers

· Brush her teeth

· Take baths

· Push things around

· Playfully flop on our bed

She took her first step at 9 ½ months and started walking when she was 10 months old.

She has 4 teeth, and her head of hair is finally filling in.

She is so lucky to have lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents that love her.

We have loved (nearly) every minute of the last year with her. She has made us better people as we have struggled to learn how to become good parents.

A few days after her birthday we scrambled to throw together a (previously canceled) bubble-themed birthday party. With the help of my mom, who was in town for a basketball game, we pulled it off!

Harper had a great time with all her friends. My mom was the star of the event - she entertained the kids with songs and Ukulele music. Thanks so much mom!

New Year's Card

2011-01-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

Life has gotten away from me. I completed our New Year's card on New Year's Eve, as we watched the ball drop. It may be arriving to mailboxes a little late, but at least it's done.

Yep, that's three posts for the day. If you know me, you know I'm kind of a numbers nerd and I couldn't pass up a blog post (or three) on 1.11.11!

Kissing Skills

2011-01-11T19:10:00.000-08:00

We've been up to serious business here in the Allen home. After months of extremely open mouth kisses, Harper is making awesome progress on her kissing skills.

(Panda, am I crazy or does she look like Jack in this picture?!)

Luckily, she is still holding on to her apprehension of men - which although we're not encouraging, we're not exactly discouraging. especially considering this new... skill.

Rewind: Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

A few days before Thanksgiving, Harper came down with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. We had originally planned to travel with my family to my hometown to watch the High School football game and eat with friends. Not wanting to spread H's germs, the three of us stayed back in New Jersey and had our own dinner, while my family traveled.

We woke up late and were pleasantly surprised by a little snow storm. Harper had so much fun playing in the snow and trying to catch some on her tongue...

...until she realized that she was cold.

In the days following, we woke up at unreal hours to get some great deals on Black Friday, explored my parents historic (and adorable!) new town, and laughed at lots of viral videos with my family.

We completed the weekend by celebrating three birthdays, including Harper's first (where she was completely spoiled)! It took her some time to figure out what presents were all about, but was a pro in no time.

When cake time arrived, Harper performed flawlessly. She surprised all of us when she blew out her candle on her own. I'm sure she's been practicing for months.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

It has been years since we really dressed up for Halloween. As usual, Harper has made the festivities so much more fun.

Last night, we transformed our storage room/basement into our "spooky" basement, complete with haunted house, spider webs, witches, bats and ghosts. This evening we had a little pre-Halloween bash with a few of our friends - many of whom have kids close to Harper's age.

The costumes were awesome!

My lovely friend, Krysta, made ALL of the delicious food. It was so cute, creative and delicious.

Earlier this week, my dad was able to come spend the evening with us. That night, our church was having the annual Halloween party. We had a great time!

eight months

2010-10-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

On July 30th, Harper turned eight months old. At the time, we took a few notes, but have not had a chance to give a full update. So, without further adieu...

This month Harper had several firsts: her first plane ride, first camping trip, first family reunion, introductions to her great grandparents and the first time playing with her cousins, among several others.

Eating - Harper mastered eating real food this month. She enjoyed a meal of Gramma Jan's spaghetti and meat sauce while we were in Montana. The noodles disappeared into her little body (and to the seat of her high chair) nearly before we had a chance to take a bite of our own food. It was as if she had been introduced to a whole new world - and hasn't looked back. Ever since that trip, Harper protests the idea of eating pureed baby food. The only way we have been able to get her to eat it is by offering her some real food, wait for her to open her mouth, and then slip in a spoonful of peas, squash or some other nearly unrecognizable food. Before too long she had figured us out and would spit out the baby food as soon as she recognized it.

In other eating-related progress, Harper is doing really well at drinking out of a cup. She doesn't care much for her sippy cup, but loves drinking out of water bottles, glasses, or whatever else we are drinking from. This month, Harper also discovered the joy of snacks. It is amazing how many baby snacks there are. During a mountain trip in Montana, Harper even learned to share her baby "cheetos" with her Aunt Arielle.

Mobility - Harper has gone from an army-crawler to a bona-fide crawler. She really mastered the art while chasing her cousins around her Gramma & Grampa Allen's house. This month she also started pulling herself up on couches, coffee tables, legs of chairs and in her crib. As expected, this development has not been without its bumps and bruises.

Teeth - Harper got her second tooth this month, which was a much easier process than the last tooth. In fact, we didn't notice or suspect it was happening until it had already broken through.

Dexterity - Along with being able to pick up small foods, Harper has started to examine objects by turning them over and over in her hands - it's adorable.

Other items and pictures of note:
Harper started laughing a lot this month. However, the laughs sounded more like clearing her throat. She would "laugh" nearly all the time and would have laughing conversations with anyone that would humor her.

Playing in the mirror:

Enjoying occasional visits from Grandpa Manning while he's in town for business:

Riding on shoulders/tearing my hair out:

Hair update:

300 days ago

2010-09-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Three hundred days ago today, I became a mother.

I am way behind on my record keeping... but wanted to post a sampling of the pictures we took over the last few months. We've had a great summer and had tons of fun to write about. It just might take me a while to get it all down.

help

2010-07-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

I learned a few days ago that one of my colleagues has a very sick little girl. Her illness came on very suddenly and, although she has been seen by some of the nation's best doctors, she is presenting a complicated set of symptoms that are making it difficult to provide a diagnoses or a plan to help her.

To make the situation more complicated, my colleague's wife is currently battling breast cancer. She had been keeping a blog to document and update friends and family of her status. That blog is now also being used to offer information about their daughter, Leighton.

http://kickincancer.wordpress.com/

I am feeling a quite helpless this morning, as Leighton seems to have been going through a significantly rough time over the last couple of days. There isn't much I can do, so I thought I would reach out to anyone that reads our little blog, to keep this sweet family in your thoughts and prayers. They really need it.

Independence

2010-07-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

Happy (belated) Independence Day

We spent this 4th of July at my parents house in Connecticut. They will be moving in August, so this was likely the last time we would get to enjoy the 4th at Waveny Park. We had an excellent time.

My mom made delicious home made raspberry ice cream (one of our family traditions), which quickly was passed out to friends sitting nearby. We caught up with old friends and made a few new ones. It is so neat to see how my parents have really become part of the community in New Canaan. While I only lived there for three years, it is the place that feels most like home. We will miss coming back so often, although my parents are convinced we'll make fairly frequent visits...

As usual, the fireworks were spectacular. Earlier in the evening my dad had worked his magic and gotten Harper to go to sleep, even with all of the music and children screaming around us. We had put her in her car seat and covered her with blanket to help muffle some of the noise.

Sure enough, though, when the first of the fireworks went off the blanket was no match. For the first ten minutes, or so, she sat happily in Shiloh's lap, occasionally gripping his arm or looking a little worried.

We're not sure what set her off... an especially loud firework, or becoming overwhelmed with so many of them... but eventually she started to cry.

She spent the rest of the show cuddled close to me, occasionally burying her head in my shoulder. I can't say I minded.

Happy Fourth of July!

first joke

2010-07-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

On Friday, Harper "told" her first joke. I was rocking her as we were getting ready for her mid-day nap and she was doing everything she could think of to keep herself from falling asleep. Finally, as she was lounging in my arms and sucking on a pacifier, she started to drift off. When she realized what was happening, she sat up and took out her binki to stave off her unavoidable fate a little longer.

She was pulling her binki in and out of her mouth when suddenly she stopped, looked at the binki, then looked at me. Before I knew what was happening, she stretched her little arm up and shoved her binki in my mouth. She stared for a minute examining what she had done. After a minute, she got a look of pure satisfaction with herself. and laughed.

I did too.

Good one, Harper.

Family Pictures

2010-07-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

We had a small, impromptu family photo shoot a few weeks ago. Now maybe I can replace some of our nearly 9-year-old wedding pictures.

seven months

2010-07-05T18:11:00.001-07:00

We have a seven month old! When did that happen? Nearly every day we are amazed with the progress she is making. Unfortunately, many times I have something new and exciting to post, only for that thing to be trumped by the next new and exciting development. Look forward to a bit of catch-up in the next few weeks.

Harper is such a great little lady. She loves being around and watching people, but occasionally enjoys spending time alone, playing with her toys. She loves her sitter (Wendy) and her sitter's kids. On one of my days home last week we were doing some organizing at home so Harper was spending time on her blanket while I got to work. Every time I would leave the room she would protest, loudly. She made it clear she wanted to be the center of attention all morning long. Later that day, we stopped by Wendy's house to pick up some things that we had left behind. I figured it would be an in-and-out trip, since Harper was clearly wanting my attention. As soon as I put her down with the kids she was totally content. It is so relieving that Harper is so clearly happy with Wendy and her family. They do a great job with her and are helping her grow up so well!

Here are some of this month's developments:
Mobility: Harper now is able to maneuver from her belly to sitting up. She also mastered pulling her knees up underneath her, as well as pushing herself around backwards. Occasionally, Harper will show off and show us how to do a baby-style plank.

Eating: She now successfully grabs small rice snacks using her thumb and fingers and puts them in her mouth. Although she has been holding her own bottle since at least last month, she is now holding & using a sippy cup by herself, it is one of her favorite tricks. She will sip out the water and then let it pour out of her mouth and down her belly.

Humor: Harper is finally finding her sense of humor. She spent this month learning how to laugh - and doing lots of it. At first it sounded a lot like her clearing her throat - affectionately dubbed by M as "the smoke monster" laugh.

Sleep: Now that the A/C is working we're all sleeping much better. Harper now sleeps on her stomach, which is usually good, but seems to frustrate her as she is trying to go to sleep. We think it is adorable.

No longer a False Alarm: After a false alarm a few months ago, Harper has finally cut her first tooth. It took a lot of work. She was grumpy for a long time - weeks, I think. She spent 3 - 5 days with a low-grade fever and little sleep, and topped it off with a strange rash from head to toe. At the end of the trauma a little jagged tooth made its appearance. Hopefully tooth #2 will come easier.

Beating the Heat: We've discovered how pleasant a body of water can be on the hot D.C. days. This month, we broke free of our make-shift "swimming pool" in our backyard, and basked in the greatness that is an invitation to our friend's pool. Harper has gotten good use of her swimming suit and floaty. So far, we've only ventured into the baby pool. The first day, Harper enjoyed the freedom that the floaty gave her - her feet were able to touch the bottom of the pool, so she pushed herself around the pool for nearly 2 hours. When we got home, I noticed that she had developed blisters on both big toes. The second time we went she had less energy, so just enjoyed the sun and (to my disgust) would frequently dip her face and tongue in the water to get a drink.

This month she loves tags, necklaces, eating paper, computer/tv screens, getting tossed in the air, sweet potatoes, anything we are eating and her (second) cousins.

Hair Update:

Sunglasses

2010-06-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

Harper tried on sunglasses for the first time this weekend. She thought they were hilarious. We spent hours putting them on and taking them off. Every once in a while it would make her giggle (sadly, a rare occurrence for her), so we know she was amused.

Today, when we tried again, she mostly wanted to eat them.

P.S. Yes, I do usually clothe her - this was as we were getting ready for bed tonight.

The Last

2010-06-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago this month, I graduated from high school. Some days it seems much more time has passed than that, other days I feel like it was just yesterday. Either way, the fact that my youngest brother is now celebrating the end of his high school career is an odd feeling.

Today Ben - the last sibling in both my family and Shiloh's - took the long-awaited walk for his high school graduation. We are so proud of him and all he has already accomplished. We are excited to see what he chooses to do with his next 10 years.

I'm not sure that I would have guessed that I would be where I am. But I'm happy to be here. I think that's the best way for life to happen.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to make Ben's ceremony, but we thought of him a lot today. He's such a good kid & brother & uncle & friend. Here's the announcement I put together for him.

Congratulations Ben! We love you!

mobility

2010-06-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Ready or not, Harper's world is about to become much more... accessible. She has never been much of a roller, but has perfected scooting and spinning on her stomach. Her latest discovery: knees. For now she isn't actually moving, but will rock back and forth on her hands and knees.

This is a picture of her just a week ago, she would try to balance on her knees but would quickly fall forward.

As you can see, she seems pretty proud of herself.

We sure are.

today

2010-06-11T18:08:00.000-07:00

i know I promised before and afters, (which are amazing!) but a stomach bug has kept me doing this almost all day today:

I had no idea how hard it is to be sick and a mom. However, this little sleeping companion makes being in bed all day not so bad.

Relief...

2010-06-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

...has arrived.

Before and after pictures (and temperatures) coming soon!

six months

2010-06-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

The rumors are true (it seems like I'm saying that a lot lately) - six months old is a great age. Harper is learning and growing so much! Here are her stats, as of 10 a.m. Friday morning:

Height: 27 1/4 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 15 pounds, 12 ounces (50th percentile)
Head: 16 1/4 inches (25th percentile)

This month, Shiloh is making his premiere appearance on this blog to provide a little wrap up:

Harper does stuff. It’s pretty cool. She does gymnastics in her crib at night. It’s funny to see the different positions we find her in in the morning. She chomps on her tongue and sometimes makes noises to go with it resulting in a “ba ba ba ba,” sort of thing. She falls asleep without being swaddled now, which is particularly helpful since our AC is out and the house averages about 92 degrees during the day and only cools down to about 85 at night with all the windows open and fans blowing full speed. She can also pull herself up to a standing position if she gets a good grip on something stationary. She responds to her name. We suspect she has recognized her name for a while, but now it is unquestionable that she responds to it. She reaches for anything she wants, including people. And by people I mean Mom whenever Dad is holding her. She pulls herself forward from sitting to a kind of almost hands and knees position. She has also made some cursory attempts at removing her diaper. Fun. My favorite, though, is when she grabs moms face with both hands and pulls it to her mouth so she can chew on moms chin. Funny stuff.

A few other things:
Although Harper has been smiling since just a couple weeks old, she isn't much of a laugh-er. This month we've been helping her find her inner giggler. She makes us really work for them, but we've had a few really good laughing session.

Harper had her first (and hopefully last) ear infection. She had a cold and we thought her throat was sore because her voice was hoarse and every time she burped she would scream like she was in pain. I took her to the doctor first thing in the morning to get the true verdict. The doctor looked at me like I was a terrible mother. Sheesh. After a dose or two of antibiotics Harper was good as new!

As previously noted, she has mastered sitting, eating, dancing, chatting with her dad and growing hair. I really can't believe how much she has changed over the last month. I feel like this month she has changed from a baby to a little girl. Today, I road the bus with a girl who looked like she was 13 or 14. It's no secret that I'm pretty nervous to have a teenage girl, but while I watched the girl on the bus, my fears diminished (if only momentarily) and I got so excited to get to watch Harper grow up - even as a teenager.

We celebrated Harper's half birthday at my parent's house last weekend. Since we were in town, and my brother is awesome, we did a mini photo shoot. Here are some of the shots:

P.S. To see more of my brother's photos - including others from this shoot - check out his blog or flickr page.

bath upgrade

2010-06-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

Now that Harper can sit up on her own, she's graduated to bathing in the kitchen sink. I'm not sure it's really an upgrade from her sweet baby bathtub, but it's nicer on our backs and she seems to love it.

sitting

2010-06-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

With perfect posture, Harper has now mastered sitting without support. This is a milestone that she seems thrilled about. Now she can look around, reach for toys & the dog, and interact with us on a whole new level. It is so exciting to see how much she really loves growing up.

This milestone not only means a new perspective in life, the doors have now opened to a whole new realm of food she can try. We've also enjoyed getting a better view of the NECK she's developing. While we love the rolls, we won't miss cleaning them out.

Life just keeps getting better every day.

Hair

2010-06-04T08:31:00.001-07:00

it's coming back....

bouncer

2010-06-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

This little lady has always loved to be vertical. She has become a big fan of her bouncer over the last few days. She dances around, squeals and throws her toys on the floor - usually getting dog hair all over them.

Check out her sweet moves:

siiiiick

2010-05-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that's how Harper would say it if she could.

I came home this evening to what seemed like a grumpy/hungry baby that was ready to eat. This happens occasionally, so I didn't think much of it. Then she started to really cry and sounded a bit muffled.

After eating and a diaper change she was pretty much inconsolable. At times it seemed she just needed a momma snuggle, other times even that wasn't enough. I thought I had seen a Harper cold before, but apparently I was wrong. It took me nearly an hour to get her to settle down and sleep.

I feel so bad. She seems so uncomfortable.

Oh shoot. The little lady just woke up. bummer.

conversation

2010-05-13T19:46:00.001-07:00

This evening, Shiloh and Harper were spending some quality time together. This quality time quickly turned into their first "conversation."

Harper has recently started blowing raspberries.

The conversation between the two consisted of a long back-and-forth exchange of raspberries. Shiloh would blow one, Harper would wait a few moments and blow one back. Shiloh would laugh then blow her another. The exchange lasted several minutes and made Shi's evening.

Efficiency

2010-05-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of an obsession with doing things efficiently. I try to find the shortest or fastest route to getting from one place to another. I try to multi-task whenever possible (as we speak I'm watching Lost), in order to get everything done. Usually this characteristic means a fair level of productivity. Well, a few weeks ago the obsession backfired.

I had a meeting I needed to get to at 1:00, but hadn't had a chance to eat yet, so at 12:45 I got my lunch ready and ate it as quickly as possible. As I was rushing to get to my meeting I grabbed my cell phone, notebook, key card and the garbage left over from lunch. I swung into the kitchen and dropped the trash into the nearest garbage can and went on my way.

It wasn't until the end of the day that I realized I didn't know where my phone went. I looked everywhere in the office that I could think of, but ended up heading home without it.

As I was riding the blue line it occurred to me - I must have dumped my phone was in the garbage with my lunch left-overs. I panicked as I realized that the garbage would be emptied in a matter of hours, let alone before I got back to the office.

I ran home and used Shi's phone to call one of my colleagues... on the off chance that she was still in the office. In a brush with luck, she was.

I told her what the situation was and she offered to go to the kitchen, call the phone and listen in the garbage to see if it was there. In another brush with luck, it was.

Sometimes efficiency is a good thing. Other times it makes your co-worker dig in the garbage for your stuff.

Toys

2010-05-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

Harper loves her toys. She has some pretty great ones. She spends hours picking them up, chewing on them, reaching for them, and giggling in delight when a new one is brought to her.

Grub

2010-05-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Right before she turned 3 months old, Harper started showing signs of being ready for solid food. It was a little earlier thank I had planned to try spoon-feeding, but we gave it a shot. I was amazed by how well she did!

She would get so excited when she saw the spoon coming her way. Check out how big she's opening that mouth!

She looks pretty satisfied to me.

Since then we've upgraded to all sorts of pureed foods. Her favorites seem to be sweet potato and carrots. Now she squeals when she sees me pull out a new jar of food and then wiggles all over as I'm trying to feed her. She loves to grab my hand and guide the spoon into her mouth.

She's growing so fast, some days it is hard to believe how small she was just a few months ago. I can't imagine what the next few months will bring!

For the Love

2010-05-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

Harper and I are lucky enough to have our own, live-in, serenader... life is good.

Hot

2010-05-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Think it's time for a new air conditioner?

Please note: inside temp is 82 in spite of the 68 cool setting -- and this was at 9 p.m. with the windows open letting in a bit of cool(er) night air. We're running out of ideas for meals that don't involve using the oven/stove... any suggestions would definitely be welcomed!

A very WEEZER birthday

2010-05-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

Sweetest birthday celebration.
ever.

I got completely spoiled this year. Well, last year too. But this year, Shiloh gave me something I've been wanting since I was 12 years old: tickets to a Weezer concert. Luckily, the stars aligned and Weezer was playing at UMD only one week after my birthday. On top of this - Ben Folds was the opening act! To say I was excited is a complete understatement.

If there was any downside, it would be the other attendees. The performance was part of the UMD "Art Attack" festival, so students got into the show for $5. To our surprise, we heard many people say, "Ben who?" Most days it seems like we just left college, and aren't too far removed from that generation. The fact that it felt like we were at a concert with a bunch of pre-teens made us wonder.

excitement.

excitement x 2

We had an amazing time. Ben Folds was hilarious and showed his piano skillz like mad yo. Seriously though, he is so talented. Weezer definitely did not disappoint. They played 5 songs from the Blue Album - my favorite - and almost all of their more recent hits. We danced, sang, screamed, jumped, almost fell over (several times) and loved every minute.

On the train ride home I think Shiloh got sick of me saying, "Dude, that was so fun." Thanks again Shi, this is one for the books. :)

Here are some shots from the show:

birth announcements

2010-05-01T20:45:00.001-07:00

I know... she's 5 MONTHS OLD. Better late than never, I say. So here they are. They aren't perfect, but I really like how they turned out. The front photo is one from our 12 day old photo shoot by our amazingly talented friends, Jon and Melissa Smith. Thanks again guys!

Anyway, I finally got them printed and the address labels will be printed and stuck tomorrow. I NEED to check this item off of my list!

In the meantime, enjoy:

Train

2010-05-01T20:29:00.000-07:00

On my birthday, Harper and I rode the Amtrak (another first for her) up to visit my sister who had just returned from a semester in London. She was going to travel to D.C. to visit us earlier in the week, but was held up in London because of the volcano. It was a quick trip, but was great to see Arrin (and the rest of the family), and give her a chance to play with Harper, who is much more fun to play with now, than she was when Arrin left. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Train Ride:

Visiting with Grandma Manning:

River Water

2010-05-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today, Harper was introduced to river water. I thought her reaction was great:

The feet go in...

O Cold!

Adi, on the other hand, loved the cold water. Black dogs on hot days have it rough.

While we were at the river, Adi made friends with this guy:

He had just finished eating a fish and wasn't in the mood to play. Sorry Adi, maybe next time.

five months

2010-05-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Harper turned 5 months old. Shi and I had big plans last night (details to come), so we postponed celebrating until today.

Harper is getting so big. At her 4 month appointment, they let us know she was 50th percentile for weight and 70th percentile for height. She doesn't seem to be letting those numbers slip. She is already in 6 month clothes, and eats like a champ. When she was born, my brother, Chris, challenged her to a contest to see who could gain the most weight in a year. He's currently beating her, and will likely win, but she's putting up a good fight - and she has the chins to prove it.

Harper really loves her dad. She saves all of her laughs for him and seems to love the time they get to spend together.

Other milestones:

Rolling over: On my birthday (April 24), Harper's gift was to master rolling from back to front. It was so exciting to watch her do it over and over. (ahhh the little things...)
Teeth: She is currently getting her first tooth. To be expected, this means lots of drooling, a not entirely pleasant baby, and chewing on everything. Her favorite item to chew on: faces.
Sleep: Up until 2 days ago, Harper has been sleeping a solid 10-11 hours a night! The new tooth has brought a new frame of mind: she thinks 2 a.m. is a great time to get up. We hope she'll decide it's not so great soon.
Food: Rice cereal has gotten a little old, so we've branched out to sweet potatoes and carrots. She is great at eating off of a spoon. She loves "real" food so much that eating around her has become difficult - she wants everything that we are eating.
Adi: Harper looooves Adi. She reaches out to pet her whenever Adi gets close enough. The other day Harper got a handful of Adi's ear and pulled. Adi isn't thrilled about this new development, but puts up with it perfectly.
Hair: It's starting to come back!!
Feet: She's recently discovered them. I love this stage.
Bathtime: Her favorite. She would stay in the bathtub for hours - splashing and squealing - if we let her.
Talking: Shiloh tells me she said her first word - prestidigitation. Her favorite time to talk is while we're riding in the car. It's hilarious to listen to her chatter away.

P.S. Happy Birthday (Grandpa) Lyle!

After these messages

2010-05-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

So, I took a little break from the blog. This doesn't mean I haven't had things to blog about. In fact, I have several blog posts in process. For some reason I just haven't been able to find time to put them up. So now, a month later, I feel I need a post between "four months" and "five months". So here it is. Now back to your regular programming.

four months

2010-03-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Harper turned 4 months old today. For a celebration, we headed into the District to one of my new favorite shops. I have a bunch of friends who have all fallen in love with a frozen yogurt place in town -- I think this one is better. It's called Fro-Zen-Yo. I love it.

To get there we had to walk by Ford's Theatre. Here's Harper as we're passing in front of the home where President Lincoln died. I love that she is growing up in an area where there is so much history all around us.

Tourists and student groups have arrived in the District, so it took a bit of time to get our turn at the self-serve stations. We chose our flavor of frozen yogurt (macadamia nut for both of us) ... then our mix-ins:

and here are the finished products:

yum.

Harper was a little concerned that the celebration was for her, but we failed to get her some... in a few months little lady, just you wait. (I love how she is holding on to her blanket in this one)

After a while, Harper had had enough and was ready for bed, so we ate the rest of our yogurt as we walked to the car in the rain. It was a fun new version of date night for us, but we loved every minute.

As we were putting Harper to bed I remembered a picture that Shi took the first night she came home with us, and so I had him take another similar picture tonight for comparison.

She has grown so much. I'll update you with the stats on Friday (after her Drs. appointment). I really miss some aspects of the brand new stage, but the four month stage is proving to be so fun in a completely different way.

Road Trippin' (part 1)

2010-03-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

I don’t remember my first road trip… it was probably driving with my parents to see their parents or on our way out to live in Chicago. Since then I’ve become quite used to them, but 2 weeks ago I added a new element to the road trip: the little lady.

I had to be in NY on Thursday night for an industry awards banquet – at which a project I worked on was up for an award. Shiloh had to work late on Thursday night, so I decided to bring Harper with me. My mom loved this idea because it meant she got to spend the evening with her while I was in the city.

Taking Harper (and all her stuff) on a plane or train didn’t sound like much fun, so we packed up the dog and the car and headed up the road. My awesome neighbor helped me out big time and fed Harper while I wrapped up a few things for work – allowing us to get on the road on time and right after she had eaten. This proved to be the perfect combination.

Harper's View

We only stopped once along the way so Harper could eat and be changed, and Adi could go to the bathroom. We got to my parents house with enough time to get dressed and catch the train to the city. My dad, who had just had knee surgery, had fun interacting with Harper, who is a lot more responsive and playful than she was the last time he saw her.

The evening was great; we ended up taking home the award (!!), and having a really good time catching up with our colleagues from the NY and Chicago offices. Here’s our award:

The next day I had a great time following my mom around to all of her activities so that Harper could meet all of my mom’s friends. We went to the school she teaches at (got to sneak a peak at her teaching – she is SO great with the kids), and to a fabulous quilting retreat that a bunch of her quilting friends were having. They are such a fun group of ladies.

All the running around wore both of us out, so the second leg of our road trip was postponed until the next morning.

firsts (part 1)

2010-03-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

Disclosure: I realize over the next few years I will have plenty of posts titled "Firsts"... I apologize for the lack of creativity.

Last Friday Harper experienced three firsts: 1st metro ride, 1st outing in the District, 1st NBA basketball game. Here's a recap:

METRO RIDE

I couldn't believe this was the first time we'd taken Harper on the metro. It is such an everyday part of my life that it was funny to see what she thought of it. We are in agreement: it's not very fun. In fact, on the ride home she would scream unless I was standing up. As Noa would call that: Metro surfing. (Noa, Harper can't wait to go metro surfing with you)

When we first got on the train there weren't that many people, but as we got closer to the arena the car became quite crowded. Harper loved looking around at all the new faces. If she had not been so tired I think she would have enjoyed it a bit more.

DISTRICT

No pictures here... As we shuffled through the crowded streets, Harper hung out, enjoying the ride and peering over my shoulder at all of the people. I think she's going to be a people watcher.

BASKETBALL GAME

The game was great. We weren't expecting a very competitive game... we figured the Wizards would get stomped... Luckily, we were wrong. It was a fairly close game throughout and the Wizards ended up with a win!

Harper enjoyed watching all of the movement, and didn't mind the noise at first. However, when she got really tired the sudden moments of cheering weren't letting her sleep, which she wasn't too pleased about.

Harper's "date" was such a champ. He's definitely more accustomed to the noisy arena. Don't worry Camden, she'll get there.

At some point, she gave in, sleeping through a good chunk of the game and some pretty loud moments. Then the Wizards started making a comeback and the crowd got really loud. At least she got a bit of sleep.
It was so great to get out and see a game. The win was totally an extra bonus. L&J, thanks so much for the great evening!

Bolwing

2010-03-05T06:21:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago we went out bowling with some friends. It was really great to get out of the house. Life definitely feels like it's getting back to normal.

A highlight of the evening was this awesome sign. I think I need to send it to Jay Leno.

Blessing Day {February 7, 2010}

2010-03-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

In our church, instead of baptism, we give new babies a blessing. Both of our families were kind enough to make the long trip to be a part of this special day. Unfortunately, because of the massive snowstorm, church was canceled. So, we decided to have the blessing in our home.

It turned out to be a really nice, intimate setting. The sun was shining, the snow was beautiful and Shiloh did an incredible job.

We started the day out with a bath. Harper loved the warm water, so we let her lounge a while.

After a little nap we got her dressed, enjoying every little button and the adorable little white shoes that were almost too small. I found a sweet little headband that offered just the right amount of frill to the outfit.

Grandma Jan helped fill Harper so she would be nice and happy for the blessing.

A few group shots:

As usual, my brother, Ben, was our photographer. I took a few pictures, but the best ones came from him -- here are some of our favorites. Others can be found here.

We're so grateful for this little girl.

The great dig out of 2010

2010-02-19T10:35:00.000-08:00

As you may have heard, the D.C. area has received more snow this winter than they've seen since 1898. The biggest dump came the first weekend of February. Coincidentally, we had scheduled to bless Harper this weekend (more on that later), so both our parents and my brother, Ben, were in town.

My parents and brother decided to sleep at my aunt Linda's house, who lives about 20 minutes from us, so they could have beds to sleep in. As the snow fell on Friday night we knew it would be tricky to get them back to the house, so we tried to convince them to sleep at our house on air mattresses. But, my dad is "from Idaho" and isn't afraid to drive in snow. Unfortunately, in Idaho they have enough equipment to plow most, if not all roads around town.

We woke up to several feet of snow, which was still falling - and continued to fall until that evening. There was so much snow that even the biggest cars couldn't get through without a plow.

By noon on Saturday it became clear that a plow was not going to make it to my aunt's street - a small cul de sac off of a main road - and we were hearing rumors that the snow plows were going to stop plowing at 3 p.m. My mom was determined to come see Harper, and was not going to miss her blessing, so they started to dig.

My aunt lives two houses into the cul de sac, and the main road was relatively cleared, so they decided to dig out the smaller road to get their car to the main road. In hopes of getting them out before the plows stopped working on the main roads, Shiloh and his brother, Jesse, drove up to help.

Here are some pictures of the impromptu work "party".

The finished product.

What a difference a day makes. On Sunday the sun came out, giving us a chance to get a good look at the huge amounts of snow we received.

Here are our power lines, in a very precarious position next to our overgrown pine tree.

Our power flickered several times over the weekend, but amazingly it never went out. The rest of the area was not so lucky. Many of our friends, along with thousands of others, were without power for most of the weekend.

This storm was 2 weeks ago, and I wish I could say that all the snow has melted, but back to back storms and cold temperatures have kept it around - causing major parking/driving/garbage removal/school & church attendance (seriously, some schools are still closed and we've had to limit church b/c there are not enough parking spots) issues.

V-Day 2010

2010-02-14T19:24:00.000-08:00

This Valentine's Day we dined at home. Shiloh found a great recipe for Brie and Apple-Stuffed Chicken. We cooked together tonight and were quite pleased with how the chicken turned out. The only adjustment to the recipe (found here) is that we would add more brie.... but we really like cheese.

Shiloh wanted to take on dessert this year, and this is what he came up with:

one word: yum.

The best part of dinner though? The company:

Happy Valentine's Day

four

2010-02-13T17:45:00.000-08:00

Today was Adi's fourth birthday. This year has brought many changes, many of which have had big impacts on Adi's life. She has coped extremely well and has impressed us with her reaction to those changes.

Most important of all, Adi is so good with Harper. She is very careful not to get too close, and has only sneaked a lick or two. Occasionally we'll find Adi sleeping in Harper's room on the rug next to her crib, while Harper is napping. We're excited to see these two grow up together.

Adi has enjoyed the last couple of weeks of tons of snow. Normally she isn't too impressed with playing "fetch," offer her a snowball though, and she's game. It has been hilarious to see her running around like she did when she was a puppy.

Here are some great shots my brother took of Adi this year.

smiley baby

2010-01-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

Harper really started smiling around the first of the year.

At first, they mostly happened when she was just about to fall asleep. Now she smiles when she wakes up, when we talk to her, when she watches Adi and sometimes for no reason at all.

We're definitely biased, but we think she's got the best baby smiles we've seen.

two months

2010-01-30T09:08:00.000-08:00

Two months ago we became parents... which, for us, means at least 2 things:
1) we are coming out of the no-sleep fog
2) shots.

I've been worried for about a week about #2. Not sure how Harper (or should I say "I") would handle it. So I made Shiloh come with us to the appointment yesterday.

Our sweet girl was oblivious to what was ahead - giving us smiles and mini laughs while we waited for the doctor. This just made me feel worse.

When the doctor came in for the check up, Harper was a champ. She showed her all her tricks:
Holding her head up during tummy time;
standing nice at tall while stretching her neck up tall too;
watching the doctor's light as she moved it around;
and probably a few more that I don't remember.

The doctor was thrilled, again, with Harper's growth:
Height: 23" (75%)
Weight: 10 pounds 5 ounces (25-50%)
Head Circumference 14 3/4 (25%)

Then she sent the nurse in. She explained there would be one oral vaccine and two shots (I was expecting 4 shots, so that was good news). Shiloh held her arms down to keep her still and I tried to focus her attention on something other than the shots (I don't think that did much). Her little face turned more red than we had seen before and she gave a good squeal (although not as loud and mad as the squeal she gives when we're using the nose sucker on her). She shed a few big tears but then settled down. Shiloh has decided that she is (and will continue to be) a tough girl.

With the exception of seeming to feel a little unsettled, the shots don't seem to have phased her - and they didn't traumatize me as much as I expected either (hope this doesn't mean I don't have a heart). The doctor told us that the shots that tend to be harder on them come at month four... now there's something to look forward to.

Hangin' with Harvey

2010-01-25T20:56:00.000-08:00

Our good friends, Rachel & James had their baby, Harvey, a little over a week after Harper was born. Rachel and I often laugh at the thought of Harper and Harvey running into each other 20 years down the road. It has been so fun to get these two together for outings. We've already had some hilarious/ridiculous adventures that have formed great memories.

Skype

2010-01-25T20:46:00.001-08:00

A true product of the 21st century, Harper is already becoming familiar with technology. With grandparents too far away for regular visits, she enjoys weekly Skype calls with both the Allens and Mannings. It has proven to be a decent substitute, and we hope that it helps our parents feel a little more connected to this sweet girl.

An added bonus has been our Skype sessions with my little sister, Arrin, who is doing this semester in London. She doesn't have phone access, but we've been able to catch her on Skype every once in a while.

Eight Weeks

2010-01-25T20:15:00.001-08:00

Harper turned eight weeks old today. Each week seems to have flown by, but the changes in her are really amazing. When she was born, she felt like only skin and bones. Where her skin used to be baggy, she is now developing some good chub. Over the last few days we've noticed a little double chin developing. A full head of hair quickly turned to hair only on the back and sides, but the top is starting to grow back -- slowly. She seems to be quite long, but we'll confirm that at her 2 month visit this Friday.

She is becoming more and more fun every day. A few mannerisms to remember:
*Harper is very good at keeping her schedule. Not only was she born on her due date, but it has been fairly easy to teach her when to expect meal time.
*When she starts to get hungry she clucks her tongue.
*She loves her binki - and has since day 3.
*When we burp her she straightens her body and stands up, with only a little help balancing.
*Although she doesn't care for "tummy time," her neck is getting very strong. When we hold her up vertically she stretches her neck up and looks all around.
*She is such a happy baby! She started really smiling around 5 or 6 weeks. The smiles have only gotten more and more adorable.
*Harper loves to be talked to and is starting to "talk" back. She'll be carrying on conversations in no time.
*She holds her hands in a very girly fashion - always sticking her pinky fingers up.
*She loves to go on walks. Today, the weather was beautiful so I took her for a walk during her nap time. I carry her in the Baby Bjorn, and she usually sleeps the whole way, but today she woke up halfway through and pleasantly enjoyed the ride while watching the world pass by.
*She doesn't seem to mind "owie face" kisses - or doesn't seem to. ("Owie face" is the scratchy stubble growing out of Shiloh's face)
*She is a great traveler. We have taken her on many outings and has only protested a few times.
*Most of Harper's friends are boys. With the exception of Ruby, all of the babies born around the same time have been (and continue to be) boys. So far she hasn't complained.

12 Day Old Photos

2010-01-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

When Harper was 12 days old, our amazingly talented photographer friends, Jon and Melissa, helped us out with a little photo shoot. We had an idea of what we wanted - some pictures that would document how tiny she was - and were thrilled with the results! Below are just some of our favorites.

Enjoy!

snow [12.19.09]

2010-01-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

We need to play a bit of catch-up for the next few posts...

[Harper's first snow storm]

Right before Christmas, Virginia got a taste of a real snow storm. It started Friday night and continued until Sunday morning. In case you didn't hear about it, here is one of CNN's stories covering the storm. And here's one from MSNBC.

I'm not exactly sure how much fell total, but you can be sure it didn't slow Shiloh down. Saturday morning Shiloh decided that he still wanted to try to make it to his gym - which is normally a 20-30 minute drive away. So, after getting Harper suited up (and cleaning up her first real diaper disaster... on our bed) we hit the road, plowing through streets that were in serious need of a plow. We were nearly run off the road a few times, but managed to make it all the way to the gym just in time for the manager to let us know that he was closing up for the day. bummer. We were able to stop in to see my Aunt Linda, who lives in the neighborhood. She had been out shoveling her walkway when we arrived. By the time we left -- not much more than an hour later -- another 3-4 inches had accumulated.

On our way home we stopped at a few stores to look for a snow shovel. At Target, they let us know that all of their shovels were gone 8 minutes after they opened that morning. So much for being responsible home owners. Luckily our awesome neighbors shoveled us out and let us borrow their shovels to exhume Shiloh's car.

[Our street, covered in snow & neighbors]

By Sunday, the snow had stopped and the sun was out. Adi had a great time bounding through the snow and exploring our new neighborhood.

Two week update

2009-12-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

This is Harper on her way to her 2 week doctor's appointment on Monday, where she was given a clean bill of health.

After loosing almost 10% of her body weight in her first week, she has now come back strong, weighing 6 pounds 9 ounces -- 7 ounces more than she did at birth. Here are the rest of her stats:

Height: 20.25 inches (50%)
Head Circumference: 13.5 inches (25%)
Weight: 6 pounds 9 ounces (10-25%)

The doctor noted that she's very alert and strong for a two-week-old. Harper proved the doctor right by celebrating her 2 week birth day with a night of little-to-no sleep.

Photo Shoot with Ben

2009-12-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

My dad and little brother Ben drove down from Connecticut early Sunday morning to meet Harper. They drove back that night in order to go to work and school the next morning. While they were here, Ben (who is a budding photographer) and I experimented a bit with his camera. Check out his flickr site to see the awesome results.

Introducing...

2009-12-01T20:32:00.000-08:00

Harper Sophia Allen

November 30, 2009 5:40 p.m.
Arlington, Virginia
6 lbs. 2 oz. 20 in. long

The birth went incredibly smoothly - we couldn't have asked for better. Our amazing doctor and nurse made the entire experience really pleasant. We are loving the new role of parenthood we have found ourselves in. I hope you'll enjoy some of our favorite pictures (so far) of the little lady.

I guess this is really happening

2009-11-30T13:58:00.000-08:00

I'm now hooked up to many machines, and am hours from welcoming this little lady to the world. Just thought I'd keep everyone up to speed.

I started having contractions at 8:30 this morning, by 3 p.m. I was checked in to the hospital and was getting an epidural. I'm now just playing the waiting game. Unfortunately, we can't find the cord to our camera, so it may be a day or two until we post pictures... but they are coming. I'll post again later tonight or tomorrow morning with more details.

For the record, Shiloh thinks I'm crazy for blogging right now.

The Return

2009-09-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been a while... and this post isn't about the inauguration. Someday I may post about that day, but today is not that day.

The last six months have been crazy, with lots of changes and fun. In hopes of quickly capturing all (or most) of it, I've come up with the following top 10 highlights. Some of which I may elaborate on in future posts. No promises though.

10. Fabulous Hat Brunch
A bunch of my girlfriends got together this spring for a Fabulous Hat Brunch. It was so fun to get dressed up and go out with the ladies.

9. Adventures with the Tingey's
The Mud Sale: Every year the Amish community puts on a large auction that is usually very muddy. Luckily for us we stayed quite dry. We're excited to go back next year to get in on the bidding action.

Homemade Strawberry Jam: In a marathon weekend, we joined Shiloh's cousins to pick fresh strawberries and make more strawberry jam than I could have imagined. By the end, we had the process down to a science. It was so fun and have completely enjoyed our delicious jam ever since.

Kite Festival: Panda, Nate and the kids came to the District for the annual kite festival. In spite of some cold, wet weather, we had a great time and loved having the Tingey's in town.

8. NY Ladies Trip
In early April two carloads of girls spent a weekend running around NY. We went to see Wicked, visited a local flea market, did a lot of shopping and got very little sleep. It was a weekend full of memorable moments.

7. Back Surgery
In a less than fun time of the year, Shiloh had back surgery to relieve some severe back pain that had developed over the past couple of years. Recovery has been a long process, but he is finally starting to feel the benefits of the operation.

6. MT Allen Visit & AT&T National Golf Tournament
We were lucky enough to welcome Shiloh's family to the area for the Fourth of July. Shiloh's mom had given his father tickets to see Tiger Woods and several great golfers play at the AT&T National Golf Tournament. My parents thought it sounded like such a good time, that they came down to join us. We had a great time with everyone! Thanks again Jan & Lyle!

5. Virginia Beach with Adi
We took a quick weekend trip to visit our friend Garret at Virginia Beach, where he was stationed. He showed us some excellent beaches where we were able to bring Adi in the water with us. She didn't love it at first, but by the end of the trip was jumping the waves and swimming around like a pro.

4. Landmark Birthdays
2009 brought several significant birthdays. It was great to celebrate them!
My Mom turned 50 (July 27th) - We were able to drive up and surprise my mom the weekend before her birthday. It was a great weekend. Love you mom!
Shiloh turned 30 (August 17th) - Keeping with the surprising theme, I sent Shiloh out shooting with some friends while I pulled together a surprise birthday BBQ/party, with the help of our friends, Eric and Krysta (Thanks again guys!). He was totally surprised and had a great time!
Ben turns 18 (August 28th) - We weren't able to celebrate with Ben, but are super excited that he's finally exited the "kid" stage. Happy Birthday Ben!

3. Cancun
Shiloh and I took our first solo vacation since our honeymoon at the beginning of August. It was such a great trip - better than we expected, and we didn't want to leave. We went to an all-inclusive resort and enjoyed a week of no responsibilities and lots of fun.

2. Buying a House
In March, we decided we were ready to buy a house. We started looking at properties every weekend and by the end of May found the home we wanted to buy. We put an offer on the home, and unbelievably are still waiting to hear back from their bank. Fingers crossed!

1. Page Family Reunion
My mom's immediate family got together recently for a family reunion. My mom is the oldest of seven children, and all of her siblings were able to make it to the reunion. I hadn't seen all of the family for a couple of years, it was great to catch up with everyone!

** Just one more thing... **
In case you hadn't heard,

we're expecting a little girl on November 29th. We're so excited and can't believe how fast the pregnancy has gone. With just a few months to go, look forward to more updates soon!

Stay Tuned

2009-01-20T12:03:00.000-08:00

I biked into the District this morning with my friend Jewel. Stay tuned for my inauguration experience.

Obama's Oath

New Years Photos

2009-01-19T06:28:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we sqeezed some time in to take some long over-due pictures in D.C. It is awesome to be able to drive 5 minutes and have such a sweet back-drop. Happy 2009!

Getting to know the Singer

2009-01-14T17:53:00.000-08:00

In mid-December my friend Julie welcomed her adorable little boy, Bronco, to D.C. -- seven weeks early. Bronco is doing really well now; we're counting the days 'till he can come home and play. [Update: since writing this post, Bronco has been given the o.k. to come home!]

As Julie was thinking of ways to thank the many amazing nurses that have taken care of Bronco, she sent out a call for help. It seems many of Julie's friends have sewing skills. I, unfortunately, am not one of them.

When I was 11, I had watched my mom make many, many amazing dresses. She made it look so easy. too easy. I decided I was going to venture into the sewing world by making myself a pair of fabulous shorts. I chose a (most likely, hideous) jeans fabric.... it was the early 90s ... then I went to work. Without a pattern, I started cutting, ironing and stitching my masterpiece. My poor mother was probably bitting her tounge the whole time!

Throughout the whole creation process, I didn't think to take my measurements, or even try the shorts on. I figured sewing was like wrapping a present -- just eye it. When I finally finished, I was so excited to try them on. As I stepped into them, they didn't feel quite as I expected. And although I was awkwardly skinny, the shorts wouldn't fit beyond my knees.

Since then I've had several [slightly more successful] sewing experiments, but the original experiment has always haunted me.

When I got married, my mom bought me an awesome sewing machine, which I've had a love/hate relationship with. I've LOVED that I have a sewing machine [especially such a snazzy one], I've hated the guilt it gives to me as it gathers dust. Well, last week, Julie's request made me give sewing one more try.

To my suprise.... it was fun! To be fair, the blanket was about the least complicated project. perfect. The blankets were not flawless, and the first one took me much longer than it should have, but they left me feeling the need to create.

So the next project? We bought this great bench for our living room, but we do not love the cushions. I've had my eye out for the perfect fabric, and am trying to decide whether to do one, long cushion, or three square ones. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, if anyone would like to help out with Bronco and Julie's awesome service project, please let me know. We'd love to have your help!

Washington International Horse Show

2008-10-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, Shiloh and I got tickets to see the Washington International Horse Show. I had passed by the horses on F street a couple of times during the week, and could not wait to see them perform. I spent a good deal of time around horses during college, so the atmosphere definitely stirred up old memories. Great idea Shi!

In the 1st picture above, you can see one of the competitors for the Puissance competition. It is similar to the track event, high jump. The green portion of the wall can be elevated, so the horses take turns seeing how high they can jump. Michael Morrissey and the horse, Scaraberas, jumped 7'1/2" to win ... they tried for a new record, but didn't quite make it.

Here is a run-down of the other events we saw

Open Jumper Costume Pair Relay
Saddlebred Exhibition
Terrier Races
"Big & Little" - Caroline Williams' Friesian and Mini
Dressage Exhibition - Ashley Holzer, Canadian Olympic Team
Four-in-Hand Driving

I wish I had photos of the terrier races. Those little dogs were hilarious!
And check out the sweet mani/pedi!

Summer Wrap Up

2008-10-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Columbus Day Weekend

2008-10-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

After all of your nice comments complaining that I haven't posted in a while, I decided that I better have something really significant to blog about. With that in mind, Shiloh and I ventured down south to Charlottesville,VA to go backpacking. Our great friends P & G (& G) joined us for the adventure.

Shiloh decided to make it easy for me, so we did a 14.5 mile hike over 2 days. At the end of the first day, my rear end was sore, by ankles were beat and my collar bone was feeling bruised. I didn't know how I was going to make it home.

At the lowest point of the second day, we were at 800 ft. At the highest, 3900 ft. I'm not going to lie - it wasn't fun. Being outside in the gorgeous weather was so nice and the scenery was amazing, but I couldn't have been more thrilled when it was over. Fortunately, I don't think I was the only one ready to go home.

Gabe was such a trooper, he hung out in his backpack for the entire hike without any complaints. I got hundereds of adorable pictures of him along the way. What a cool kid.

Overnight, Shiloh and I slept in the open air with Adi. This was the most entertaining part of the trip. She stayed up all night chasing away raccoons and several other animals that were interested in our garbage. She would be laying quietly one minute and then would take off, growling and snapping at various animals, one of which sounded much larger than I was comfortable with. I was amazed with her performance. Needless to say, she was a bit tired the next morning. After the trip, she spent over 24 hours at home on her pillow.

We were all relieved that we had Monday to catch up on sleep and stay off our feet.

**Stay tuned for recaps of our summer fun**

Baseball & Burgers

2008-07-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last night concluded my office sofball team's season. It was a great night.

** A Little Background **

Our team, the Orange Sox, has not done very well. We've consistently improved over the season and have even come close to winning, but the last inning has typically been when we fall apart. Keep in mind, my office has a large female presence. The league requires teams to play at least three women in the first ten of the line up. We had many nights when we were lucky to get three MEN. That aside, the ladies have not done that badly, we just can throw or hit the ball as far...

So back to last night.

The first game marked the benning of the league playoffs. We were seated #8 of eight teams, and we were playing #7. The stars aligned, everyone played weel and we beat them. It was a great feeling to win. We were stoked, packing up our things, patting eachother on the back & heading to our cars... when the ump stopped us.

Apparently when you win a game in the playoffs you play again -- that night. We had not considered the possibility of winning, so we hadn't bothered to see what would happen if we did.

Then came the good news: we were playing the #2 team. This team was serious. Their uniforms were night, their girls were tough (some of which playing better than a few of our guys), they even had a team photographer show up. Needless to say, we were slaughtered. They actually ended up calling the game early because the other team was 10 runs ahead. Chickens. The really sad thing is that we didn't really play poorly. We had a few really solid plays and many of the team members showed marked improvement from the first game. In the end, we just wern't as good. We all agreed - it was a fun game anyway.

Afterwards we headed over to a new restaurant that Chef Spike (a former Top Chef contestant) just opened in S.E. D.C. It's a burger place, complete with milk shakes and homemade fries.

In spite of the long line, grumpy guy in front of us & the fact that they ran out of Turkey Burgers -- we had a great time. Good Stuff Eatery was DELICIOUS. The "bouncer" was awesome, and did a good job at keeping the crowds in order. Spike was there cooking, complete with his signature fedora in place. He was very nice, made sure we had everything we wanted and even asked how the game went.

I had the Turkey Burger with a beef patty (they were out of turkey) it was delish. The milk shakes were smooth & creamy and the fries were excellent. The best part is, everything they make is made from scratch. I'm starting to feel like an ad -- maybe they should be paying me for this -- but I really did love it. You should really check it out.

You know it's Friday the 13th when

2008-06-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

Today has started out all wrong. I woke up 15 minutes before I needed to be out the door. I rushed to get everything pulled together (including myself) and ran out the door to catch the train. I got to the station just as a train was pulling away, so I had to wait 5 minutes for the next one. When I got on the train, a girl that works in my building told me that there were power issues in the city (and our building). Apparently D.C. is experiencing a major power outage today. We arrived at our metro stop to find no lights in the station and lots of people. When we got to the building there were tons of people just hanging around wondering what to do. My office has no power, air conditioning and the server is down for the whole company. I wish this were a good thing... I had so much to do today!

** I just got a call letting me know that the server is working, maybe that means that power is back on **

Regardless, I'm home now, so we'll see what I can get done from here. And it's only 10:30 a.m.! I hope this is not a sign of things to come for the rest of the day.

I have arrived!

2008-06-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

In June, I was invited to an event at the National Theatre. I went with some of my co-workers and had a great time. Trisha Yearwood, Clay Aiken and many other amazing vocalists performed. We were also treated to a poetry reading by Maya Angelou. How inspiring. We sat in the balcony and completely enjoyed the show. The theatre is amazing. It was a great evening.

Oh yeah -- the President and First Lady also attended. Here's my attempt at a photo.

Leslie Milk of The Washingtonian wrote about the event on the Capital Comment Blog. http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/people/capitalcomment/7950.html
She writes, "Washington’s political elite dressed to the nineteens ..." Not a bad group to hang out with. If you scroll down to the listing of pictures, I am featured with my friends, Taj and Cory in the 6th picture.
If you're having trouble finding it, here's a direct link to the pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8206629@N05/2542989109

Gone Swimming

2008-06-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you that were in D.C. this weekend, Saturday at around 2:00 p.m. we had a fast, heavy rainstorm that dropped a lot of rain in very little time. We had quite a unique experience as a result of the downpour that I thought everyone would get a laugh out of.

Around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Shiloh and I went to California Pizza Kitchen in Pentagon City with our friends, Rachel, Melissa and John. We were seated at a table next to a large wall of windows. We had a front row seat to the rain as it started to sprinkle. We were wondering how we were going to get back to our car without getting drenched when John said, "it feels like I'm getting wet!" Within seconds water started flowing into the restuarant from gap above the window that is usually filled by a sealant - apparently it's time to be replaced. What started as a small leak...

grew quickly. We dashed to a table a safe distance from our original spot, and not a moment too soon. Before long our table was in a lake of water. The picture below shows the clean up efforts we were seated right in the middle of the large puddle.

So, if you're looking for an eventful eating experience, make sure to head to CPK when you hear rain is coming.

Emergency Preparedness Fair

2008-06-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

The second Rachel and Rachel production of the year, this weekend Rachel Watson and I participated in our church's Emergency Preparedness Fair. We had a great time and learned quite a bit along the way.

Memorial Weekend

2008-06-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

What a great memorial day! My parents arrive early Saturday morning for a weekend of fun. We headed right over to Eastern Market where we browsed the goods. We used to look forward to the 57th street art fair in Chicago every June -- while the art could never compare, being out among street vendors was a little nostalgic. We found some very cool "singing" bowls. We spent quite a while perfecting the art of making the bowls sing. My parents love finding cool stuff like this, and decided to take one home.

After browsing the market, having our spiritual energy measured and finding lots of great jewerly and bags, we made our way to the Potomac River. We had a delicious lunch at Tony & Joe's and then walked down to Jack's Boathouse where we rented kayaks and played on the river.

After we got our fill of the sun, we returned to my aunt and uncles to meet up to go to dinner. We had delicious food at Tara Thai and enjoyed the company of my cousin, Daren, who left on a mission three days later.

On Sunday, my Aunt Linda hosted a farewell reception for Daren. Many of their friends came to send him off. We broke away for a few minutes to show my parents a few neighborhoods where we have been looking for housing.

On Monday we met up with Paige & Garrett and a couple of their friends for a trip to the National Zoo. We enjoyed the animals in the morning and then made our way to a picnic with our friends at Fort Hunt park near Mt. Vernon. We all enjoyed the sun and great food. This was an excellent welcome to the summer.

Home Sweet Home

2008-05-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

It's official. We will be residents of the Washington, D.C./Arlington, VA area for the foreseeable future! We're so excited!

We are not yet sure where exactly we'll live, so if you have suggestions please pass them along.

While I was away...

2008-05-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since I've been away. I don't really have a good reason for my lack of posting, so I'll just give you a quick wrap up of the last month and a half.

1) Shiloh left for training for work around the beginning of April. He comes home on weekends, and the time is passing much faster than we anticipated. We can't talk about his job online, so email us if you have any questions.

2) My wonderful friends threw me and three of my friends an awesome birthday party. I think the breakdown went like this: Sarah's birthday was on Monday, Laura's was on Tuesday, Ali's was on Wednesday and mine was on Thursday. All this combined made for an occasion that had to be celebrated.

A bunch of girls met up for dinner and then Rachel had everyone over for cake & ice cream. Kayla made two amazing cakes making this one of the best birthday parties ever. Thanks ladies!

3) My two great friends Julie and Megan met me at Cake Love for a mini birthday celebration. Megan gave me this fabulous jewelry dish - she had no idea how much I needed this!

4) I never said that I'd do it, but I've developed a bit of an addiction to LOST. Ah! This has led to lots of late nights, not much sleep and probably an increase in blood pressure. I love it. I've been watching it streaming online at ABC.com. I just finished the first season, and have plunged into the second. I'll let you know how it goes.

5) I hit my 9 month anniversary at work. crazy. I love having a job that I love to go to.

6) I bought my tickets to Utah. Shiloh's cousin, Luke, is getting married in Park City on the fourth of July. Shiloh won't be able to make it, so I'll be representing our little family at the wedding. While there, I'll be traveling up to Idaho to visit family and friends that I haven't seen since I left. JaNae may have had her baby by then, so I'm hoping to be able to meet him!

7) Our friends, Paige & Garret, just moved to town. We've had the chance to spend quite a bit of time with them. Their son, Gabe, is so adorable. It's been great to have them close by!

Happy Birthday Faith!

2008-04-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

Our sweet friend Faith turned six yesterday! Unfortunately, we were out town on Sunday so we had to have a belated birthday party. It was so fun to hang out with Faith and her family.

Faith had a Hannah Montana theme, and a cake in the shape of a flower. Faith blew out the candles so well, but the flame kept coming back -- I hate it when that happens! The cake was delicious and the ice cream (bubble-yum flavored) brought me back to my childhood.

We're so happy to have such good friends!

Trip to Amish Country

2008-04-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

OK...We never actually ventured to the Amish communities, but we did spend this weekend in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Shiloh's cousin Panda and her husband Nate just bought a beautiful house there and we drove up to help prepare the house for move-in. I was suprised how short the drive was, so it looks like we'll be making the trip more often!

We spent the weekend painting, taping walls, listening to great music and playing with Panda and Nate's adorable kids. Not to mention enjoying Panda's amazing cooking! Panda used to paint homes professionally, so watching her at work was impressive! She picked amazing colors that worked perfectly with the beautiful hardwood floors and brick mantle. Nate's mom, Sue, was in town to help wrangle the kids so we could get as much done as possible. She was amazing. We had a great time getting to know her.

Jack

Noa

On Sunday, in between conference sessions, Nate and Panda took us on a driven tour of the town of Lancaster. Nate's office is in a sweet old building right in the heart of town. We quickly fell in love with the area, confirming my dream to one day reside in the great state of PA.

The kids loved Atti. We would have Atti jump for a stick and Jack would bust up with the funniest laugh! When it came time for us to leave and we put Atti in the car, Noa cried and cried. Sue wondered out loud how long they would be able to put off getting a dog of their own.

We laughed and laughed all weekend at the many, many funny phrases coming out of Noa's mouth. Check out the Tingey's blog for new "Noa-isms" that will give you a little glimpse of the sweetness.

Dave & Busters

2008-04-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we spent Saturday evening with our friends Katie and Nathan. They had heard of this place, Dave and Busters, where we could eat and play some pool. So we decided to check it out. Little did we know how intense this place was.

After dinner, we hit the game room. The pool tables were all reserved through the night, so the arcade room fulfilled our gaming craving. We played racing games, shooting games, basketball games, and even tried our hand at Dance Dance Revolution.

Here are some highlights:

We had a great time with Katie and Nate -- we'll definitely have to go again!

Our Tricky Dog

2008-03-28T21:30:00.000-07:00

I just added a new list to the blog: Atti's List of Tricks. We've been teaching her a few new ones lately and decided we should record everything she can do -- I think we're at 25 to date!

This makes us wonder, is she especially smart or are we just a little obsessed with teaching her tricks?

Anyone have any suggestions for the next trick we should teach her?

This fence wasn't built in a day

2008-03-27T18:43:00.001-07:00

...but not much longer.

My cousins adopted a puppy a few months ago. With the nice weather and the increased energy of the pup, my uncle decided a fence would be an appropriate addition to the yard. Since Shiloh had some time on his hands, he volunteered. Here he is with the finished product. He did a great job. Everyone agrees that it has made life much easier.

Great Idea

2008-03-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2008/03/27/tatton.virtual.vietnam.memorial.cnn

This is a video about a new website: http://www.footnote.com/. Essentially, it is site that is telling the stories of those killed in the Vietnam War. You should really check it out.

Why do they always do that with the money, before the end of the night?

2008-03-27T16:47:00.001-07:00

Apparently that was on my mind last night. I have been sick for the last couple of days and have been having some very strange dreams. Some time in the middle of the night, last night I woke Shiloh up with my sleep talking:

R: Why do they always do that with the money, before the end of the night?

S: What?

R: Why do they always do that thing with the list, before the end of the night?

S: What?

R: Nevermind, forget it.

S: Are you asleep?

R: No.

S: Well then, what are you talking about?

R: I don't know, shut up, go to sleep.

I have a vague recollection of this conversation. I remember waking up, having just spoken, to Shiloh inquiring about my comment. I remember thinking that what I said made perfect sense, but as I repeated what I said, it became very difficult to put my thoughts into words and it was clear that I had been talking in my sleep. For some reason, I didn't want Shiloh to know this. I am so pleased to know that I was so polite in my half-awake state. Sorry Shi, I take back the "shut up".

On the road again

2008-03-22T05:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, two of my VA friends joined me on a road trip up north. I was throwing a bridal shower for Katie, a good friend of mine from high school, and at the last minute I decided to invite Megan and Julie for a girls weekend to New York! It was a great idea.

These girls are hilarious!

The 5 1/2 hour drive up was so funny. A game of truth or dare revealed so many secrets that we had to declare, "what happens (or is said) in the civic, stays in the civic." We had a fine dinner of rest stop white cheddar popcorn, Cheeto's and doughnut holes, topped of with our beverage of choice. I haven't had road trip with my girlfriends since high school, and apparently, I was long overdue.

The next morning I did a quick drive through of New Canaan - it doesn't take too long - and dropped the ladies at the train station. I sped to my house to pick up some goodies and favors for the shower and then headed to the Read's house. My mom made some delicious snacks and breakfast casseroles that were perfect for the event.

The shower was great. Katie looked beautiful, and so happy. It was great to catch up with friends that I hadn't seen in years. Our friend Kara was throwing the shower with me, I haven't seen her since her wedding. I'm so glad people have showers so I can see all the people that I never get to see.

I was tasked with running the "get to know you" video of Jimmy (Katie's fiance) and making a hat of ribbons from all of the gifts for her to wear. I have to say, it turned out pretty well!
After the shower I drove down to NY with Kara (she lives in Manhattan) to meet up with Julie and Megan. I parked up on the upper west side, near the temple, and took the subway down to Chinatown where the ladies were shopping their little hearts out. I have been completely spoiled by the spacious, clean and well scheduled D.C. metro. I waited for an express train for about 10 minutes, with no idea how close the next train was. So then I gave up and jumped on the train that would stop at every stop. While I was waiting in the station I overheard a conversation that involved, Provo, Utah and BYU. Turns out this crowd was in town for a qualifying race for some of this summer's marathons. Sure enough, they were Mormon. Crazy Mormons, they're everywhere. We had a good chat, and it was nice to have a distraction from my heightened nervousness.

When I met up with Julie and Megan in the extremely crowded shopping district of Chinatown. Megan had her heart set on a blue bag with a braided handle, so we looked in every shop with no luck. Along the way, both Julie and I found bags that we thought were fun, so we tried our hand and bartering the sales guys down to a price we liked. Some of us were more successful than others. Megan never found her blue bag with braided handle, but did find a great white bag that will be perfect for summer.

We then head down south to the tip of the island, we stopped at Ground Zero, which has changed so much since I was there last. They have a memorial set up with pictures from Sept 11 and the days following. There is still a large hole, but it is not nearly as deep as it used to be. I am excited to see what the progress will be in the coming years.

It was just a few more blocks to Battery Park so that Megan could see the Statue of Liberty, so we marched on.

These poor girls had walked so much that after going to the park, we hopped in a cab to find the gelato place that Julie's friend had raved about. It was just a little hole in the wall, and (because it was the end of the day) there wasn't much selection left. However, the gelato was fabulous! I had grapefruit flavored, which I highly recommend.

***

Since we were just a hop, skip and a jump from Little Italy, we decided to have pizza. We came across L'asso, a cute little restaurant with great magazine reviews in it's windows. Unfortunately, we would not have given it such great reviews. We had two kinds of pizza, one of which was from the recommendation of the magazine reviews. Our conclusion: no flavor. The waiter did recommend a different kind -- maybe we should have listened to him. Or maybe we have poor taste.

After dinner we jumped in another cab (soon to be the resting place of my phone) to head up to Times Square. On the way there, we passed Macy*s, who is having it's annual Flower Show. The windows are all decorated with mannequins dressed in clothes made of flowers and plants. I'm sure we squealed and then asked the cab driver to let us out early. The windows were amazing. They never fail to impress.

We decided to go into Macy*s to buy Megan a scarf and hat. I stepped into the revolving door and Julie stepped into the same section of the door. "Ok," I thought, "This is different, but kind of funny." On my next step I was shoved up against the glass of the revolving door as Megan pushed her way in the compartment. We could barely move and Julie (being smashed between us) was bounced between us like a pinball. When we finally managed to move the doors far enough to let release us from the enclosure, we spewed out onto the floor into a pile of laughter - what a sight we must have been to all of the shoppers!

When we left Macy*s we convinced a pedi-cab driver to take the three of us to Times Square for $15! We ended up paying him $20, because it was so much fun! I totally recommend taking a ride next time you're in town.

We spent a bit more time wandering through Times Square before we made our way to the car. To our delight, we happened across the infamous Naked Cowboy! Julie got up close and personal and Megan and I snapped pictures as fast as we could.

It was on our walk to the car that I realized my phone was missing... we went back to L'asso in hopes that it slipped out of my bag as we ate. No luck. So we left the big city sans phone.

The drive back to DC the next day was beautiful. It was amazing how many creepy men we came across. ew. Megan and Julie did so well away from their husbands and babies - I was so relieved that the only tears shed were tears of laughter.

It was a great weekend, these girls are a riot.

March 27 UPDATE: Our amazing cab driver (that drove us from L'asso to Macy*s) found my phone in his cab and dropped it off at a local Verizon store. I should have my phone again by this weekend!

President's Day

2008-02-23T07:28:00.001-08:00

We had a great President's Day this year. We started out the day with a drive down to Quantico. Our friends Paige and Garret will be moving to VA next month and had a house they were considering renting that we went to check out for them. The weather was AMAZING! I came outside wearing a sweater and jacket only to discover 75 degree temperatures. On the drive down we had the windows down and the AC going. They were very welcome conditions in mid-February.

After giving the apartment a good review, we decided to stop in to the Marine Museum. The exhibit definitely makes you want to join the corps. We ate at the restaurant in the museum, did some pull ups, browsed the history of the Marine Corps and watched a parental focused recruitment video.

After the museum we drove back to Falls Church and met up with our friends Jeanette and Matt for a fun game of frisbee golf. Unfortunately, the weather remembered that it is February and started to rain and dropped 40 degrees in a matter of a couple of hours. So frisbee was wet. It was still a lot of fun. I never knew how serious frizbee golf could be.

National Geographic: FROGS

2008-02-23T07:03:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we met up with our friends Jon & Melissa and Laura & Tyson for an outing to the National Geographic Museum. The current exhibit is full of frogs. Melissa & Jon gave a great summary of the outing on their blog. Some of the frogs had amazing color, and then there were those that were just ugly. Here are a few of our favorites:

After going to the museum we went back to Jon and Melissa's for lunch. We had a great time chatting, eating and enjoying the Smith's house -- which, by the way, they just redecorated, I'm excited to go and see the new color in person!

State Track Meet

2008-02-23T06:40:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we traveled up to Connecticut to cheer my sister, Arrin, on as she competed in the state track meet. My brother, Chris, had the day off, so he was able to come along. The meet was held at the Yale indoor track, which sounds cool, but as a spectator it was not so cool. There was not any seating available and we had to push and shove to get a space on the upper balcony to get a good view.

It was so fun to watch Arrin compete. Her knee was giving her trouble, so the high jump didn't go as well as she had hoped. However, she took home 4th in the pole vault! We were so proud. Here are some pictures from the event.

Rache's Night Out

2008-02-23T05:46:00.000-08:00

This was my view for a good portion of Friday evening. Rachel and I decided to have a Rache's Night Out, and hit the town. Because it is not metro accessible, Rachel had never had the pleasure of experiencing The Carlyle. So we took the trip to Shirlington for a delicious dinner. After a long week of work, good food and conversation really hit the spot.

We spent the rest of the evening planning a fabulous party. Stay tuned for more information!

Awakening

2008-02-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, one of our favorite D.C. tourist attractions left town. The sculpture "The Awakening" was sold to Milton V. Peterson for $725,000. It will be moved to a beach on the eastern shore of the Potomac, at the National Harbor. Here's the Washington Post story.

For years, this has been one of my favorite things to go see in D.C. Shiloh and I went and visited last summer... Shiloh's response was too predictable.

I'd like to say that we'll make the drive to MD to see the new home, but my guess is it probably won't happen. Anyone else sad about the move?

Spain

2008-02-16T21:42:00.001-08:00

[I started this posting at the beginning of January and it's been holding me up. Sorry it's taken so long.]

We just got back from an amazing trip to Spain. This year, Shiloh and I had planned to take a little graduation trip. When our families heard about our plans we all decided to scale back on presents and spend Christmas money on a fun group trip. Both of our parents and four of our siblings were able to joing us. It was pretty funny to watch the 10 of us parade around such narrow streets. We were so happy that everyone was able to come. We now have halarious memories to laugh about for years! Here's a rundown of some of the most memorable trip elements as well as a slideshow of trip pics. (Warning: we took a lot of pictures)

Day One: Madrid Airport
Highlights:
1) Searching for the Allens
2) Chupa Chups
3) Catching Some Z's on Hard Airport Chairs
4) Hot Showers

Day Two: Gibralter
Highlights:
1) Little Girl Mooning Us
2) Fiesty Apes
3) Amazing Views
4) Great Butt Workout From All The Stairs
5) English Speakers!
6) Warm Showers

Day Three: Jerez
Highlights:
1) Fundacion Real Escuela Andalusa Del Arte Ecuestra
2) Sweet Horses
3) Internet Cafe
4) Pizza Hut - Spanish Style
5) Cold Showers

Day Four: Seville
Highlights:
1) Flamenco Dancers
2) Millions of Pictures
3) Jesse's Navigating Skills
4) The Alcazar
5) Night Views
6) Plaza De Espana
7) Cold Showers

Day Five: Church in Marbella
Highlights:
1) Sleeping In
2) "Espirit"
3) Doubling The Size of The Congregation
4) "Ferngully"
5) Cold Showers -- Solar power water heaters are WAY over-rated

Day Six: Granada
Highlights:
1) Alhambra
2) Fresh Bread
3) FREEZING
4) Bus Ride
5) Cold Showers

Day Seven: Malaga
Highlights:
1) Tourist Souvenir Booths
2) Picasso Stomping Grounds
3) Lunch
4) Cold Showers

We had such a great time! If anyone is considering a good trip - Spain gets our vote!

Temporary Sign-off

2007-11-27T15:38:00.000-08:00

I wanted to give everyone a heads up: as a result of a recent event that has left me feeling a bit vulnerable, I am sorry to say that I'm going to be taking a break from the blogosphere. I hope that by Christmas I will feel ready to continue the posts (as infrequent as they may be) and my life will be an open book once again.

I look forward to reading your blogs and the fun things everyone is up to. I'll keep everyone posted on my blogger status.

Weekends

2007-11-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

I never realized how much a weekend off of work does for you. As a result of a series of unfortunate events, I had to work this Saturday. ugh. I really enjoy what I do, but this much of it was too much. Saturday night my co-workers and I managed to complete our project, so that we wouldn't have to work on Sunday as well.

So what did I do Sunday? I slept. A lot.

Needless to say, it didn't feel like much of a weekend. I was doing alright on Monday and Tuesday but yesterday and today have been hard to get through. So, I plan to pack this weekend full of very weekend-ish stuff. Not quite sure what yet, but I've decided that I haven't been appreciating my weekends enough. No more weekend wasting for me.

My friend Shana will be arriving this Wednesday. She is flying from Salt Lake City to spend the weekend with me. We lived really close to eachother in elementary school and spent a great amount of time together, but since I moved away, we only get to see eachother occassionally. It will be nice to be sans-husbands so that we can do all the girly things we want! If anyone has great ideas for what we should do, please let me know.

I got some great news this weekend. A good friend of mine (who shall remain un-named until this becomes public knowledge) let me know she's pregnant! How exciting. This makes (at least) 4 or 5 friends now who will be expecting over the next 9 months. Stay tuned for newborn updates.

Shiloh is doing well, he'll be out here in 12 days (not that I'm counting) for Thanksgiving, and then for good in 6 1/2 weeks! Our (my) friends are very excited to get to know Shi through more than what I can tell them and the pictures that I have on my phone. The job hunt is going well. We're excited to figure out what the next few years will hold.

Not My Finest Hour

2007-10-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

Alright, I cave. After receiving many calls and emails from friends and coworkers telling me they had just seen me on the today show, followed by Shana posting my 15 seconds of fame on her blog, I have decided to post the link here. I come on at 1 minute and 6 seconds and again at 3 minutes and 19 seconds, enjoy.

Drink up these candidate cocktails

Busy Busy

2007-10-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe another month has passed by! Work has been incredibly busy, and to be honest looking at the computer when I come home is usually the last thing I want to do. However, if I don't post the happenings of the last month, I'm afraid they'll never be put up... so here it goes.

The Today Show

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a gala with my friend Tara. We worked together at ICON back in Logan and ran into eachother at a USU alumni event. She's living in DC without her husband as well, so it's nice to know I'm not alone in my lonliness. (Side note: I wish I was not so busy so I could be lonely!)

Anyway, before the gala we went with Tara's office to Happy Hour at the Lotus. We were given the drink list and it was in the form of a ballot, with the each drink associated with one of the presidential candidates. I was planning to just get a Coke, but Tara pointed out that the Romney was liquor-free (very appropriate) so I ordered it. After a little while, we noticed a camera crew wandering around the bar filming people looking at the "menu." Our table was pretty crowded, and almost all of us had ordered from the special drink list, next thing we know a woman is interviewing one of the guys in our group.

She was from the Today show and was doing a story on this drink promotion. She asked funny questions like, "how did you feel about crossing party lines when ordering your drink?" And "did your presidential prefrence determine your drink selection tonight?" She interviewed quite a few of our group and then started walking away, as no one else was volunteering. Tara -- with her big mouth -- yelled, "WAIT, she's drinking a Romney!" The woman runs over and gets right to it. . . asking me why I chose this drink and who I was planning to vote for. I did NOT want to talk with her, and the entire time looked at my hands. She was leaning in very close to me, and if I looked at her, I would get a double - no triple - chin, so looking at her was out, and I was not going to look at the camera.

Tara tells me that I was very quiet (I'm not suprised, I didn't have much to say) so she piped up and explained that while she did not choose to drink a Romney, IS planning to vote for him. So, hopefully she gave them some footage.

I'm not sure when the show is going to run, but if I find out, I will not be posting the date.

Walking
A few weeks ago I posted information on the AIDS walk ... well, it has come and gone and was a hit. More people attended this year than have in the past few years, so the walk was a success. It was really nice to be out in the district on a Saturday morning, I have all the best intentions of doing it more often.

Continuing with my new walking hobby, I also participated in the Breast Cancer Awareness Walk with my friends, Julie & Jason Brady. Julie's mom was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, so this was a way we could show our support from across the U.S. Julie posted about the walk on her blog, so check it out. The weather was beautiful, but the walk was slow - I guess it gave us time to take some nice pictures.

Trip Home

A few weeks ago, my brother Ben dislocated his shoulder during a football game. It turned out that he tore most of the ligaments in that shoulder and needed surgery. He had a great surgeon working on him, who assured us that the shoulder would be great, maybe even better than before the injury.

I've been worried about him, and had been wanting to go see how he was doing, and last weekend I had the chance to go. Ben actually seemed to be doing really well. He was able to go back to school after just a day or two. It was good to see my family, here's my brothers being twins. nerds.

Another activity we did while I was in Connecticut, was attend a big carved pumpkin display. It's kind of hard to explain, but the display featured pumpkins with every sort of carving you can imaging. They also took pumpkins and piled them on top of one another to make huge images, like dinosaurs and spiderwebs. This one is not of anything specific, but I think it was my favorite...

Shiloh Update

We have 8 more weeks to go until Shiloh's done with school and comes back to D.C.! The countdown begins...

Six Years

2007-10-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

On September 29th, Shiloh and I celebrated six years of marriage in Park City. It was great to spend a weekend together - we packed a lot of fun in.

We had planned a lot of outdoor activities for the weekend, all of which were trumped by awful weather. I left 80 degrees in D.C. to a 35 degree weekend, complete with wind, sleet, snow and clouds. Luckily, Shiloh brought my winter clothes down for me to take back with me. I think I used most of the sweaters he brought. (Did I mention I am quite a wimp when it comes to the cold?)

We spent most of Saturday walking around downtown Park City. I've been skiing in P.C. before, but I've never checked out the town. The town is full of neat art galleries, featuring artists from all over the world. There are also nice clothing the jewelry shops. Shiloh found a wedding ring that he liked (his first one was stolen) and so we ordered one. We also stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I got this caramel/almond/chocolate covered apple. It was delicious!

While we were walking around town, we passed by a little french restaurant called Chenez. After looking at the dinner menu, we decided it looked like a good place to spend our anniversary dinner. We were a little adventurous in our meal selection - I had quail and Shi had rabbit. The food was good, but not excellent. I think I would have liked it better had it not set me back so much $$.

After dinner we decided to get out of the cold and catch a movie. We've been waiting for The Kingdom to come out, so it was the obvious choice. We were very pleased with our selection.

My flight didn't leave on Sunday until 2:30, so we were able to hang out a bit. The weather was much nicer (at least sunnier) so we took Adi on a hike in the hills of Park City. She had a lot of energy to get out. We then made our way to Salt Lake and walked around the city for a couple of hours.

The weeked was great - probably the best anniversary so far. I can't believe we've been married for six years. The years have truly flown by. My life would not be the same without these last six years with Shiloh by my side. It's been the best choice I've made.

Art Fair

2007-09-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend I took a nice bike ride with my friend Jewel. She emailed me in the middle of the week, telling me about this great art fair in Old Town Alexandria that is held every year. She suggested we meet up at her house and bike over and back. It was so fun!

The bike ride was a much needed strain on my muscles. I have not been on a bicycle for a number of years, but it quickly came back to me -- as they say, "just like riding a bike."

Along with the art fair, Old Town hosts a farmer's market every Saturday. Here's some of the delicious food they had there.

After sampling most of the options, we both picked up a loaf of bread to take home to our families. Delicious.

When my family lived in Chicago, every year we would attend the 37th Street Art Fair, which brought artists from all over the country, and some from around the world. The art was always amazing. I was delighted to find out that this art fair was very similar. Here are some of my favorite pieces:

We thought this kind of looked like Adi

Along with amazing and inspiring art, there were some interesting musicians. I had heard of a sitar before, but had never seen one. This man was a little odd, but the music he could make with the sitar was impressive.

The bike ride home was also very nice, but halfway through my energy disappeared all of a sudden - right in time for 2 or 3 good sized hills. I thought I would be incredibly sore today, but I'm actually not at all. Jewel's daughter (who came along for the ride) was SO well behaved, I don't think I've ever seen a toddler put up with that much sitting all at once.

Labor Day

2007-08-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

American Flag flown over the GWB

I went home for Labor Day. An hour into my drive I was ready to be done driving. Six and 1/2 hours later, I thought my rear end was never going to be the same. The drive home was much nicer (and shorter).

I arrived, Friday night, to a house full of teenagers. My mom had organized a surprise birthday party for my youngest brother... 16!! It is funny to see siblings grow up and start doing things that you remember doing not so long ago.

Saturday morning I woke up unsure of where I was. It was a pleasant realization that I was in my parents home. When I got up we went to watch Ben play football. The games were only short scrimmages, and I was never quite sure what was going on. When Ben's team took a break the parents, Arrin and I took the opportunity to run to get a bagel brunch. Delicious.

Later that day I went with the parents and Ben to finish up his Eagle project. I got to practice my knot tying skills and became very grateful for electric drills. Ben and the family worked so hard on the project, it really looks great. I'm amazed that the town finds so many things for Eagle Scouts to do. Every year I hear of at least one or two boys that recently completed their project.

Saturday night we had a nice evening at a family friend's home. Quite a few people came and it was a nice party. Arrin and I left early to get a little shopping in before Sunday. We then went home and watched Freedom Writers. This is the first benefit I have found to having Shiloh gone: I get to watch whatever movie I feel like. A number of times I've wanted to see Freedom Writers, but Shiloh was convinced it would be another Dangerous Minds, and did not have a great desire to watch it. Arrin was very nice and gave up an evening with friends to watch it with me.

On Sunday we attended church and had a lazy day. In the evening a woman from the community was baptized and we attended the service. She was very excited. It was a very nice meeting, many members came to give their support. She will make a great addition to the congregation.

On Monday my dad refreshed my tennis memory. We spent about an hour and a half playing and chatting. My mom played for a while and then decided her time could be better spent running around the track - tennis was not a lot of exercise, but it was nice to spend time with my parents.

Arrin is a Senior this year, and as such participated in many pre-senior activites on Monday. The first of which was decorating cars. Here's her original paint job, however, I think it may have change some later in the day. I remember my senior year. I'd doesn't feel like it was that long ago - but when i think about it, quite a bit has happened in the 7 years since. Life continues to pass by, faster and faster.

I was able to break away and get on the road around 3:00 and made it back to Virginia before too long. I was able to spend time with all members of the family which was long overdue. The weekend was very nice, but strange to be visiting without Shiloh. Soon enough.

Calling all DC run/walkers!

2007-08-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

I wanted to let everyone know about a fun run/walk opportunity. If you are not a run/walker - feel free to take the opportunity to do something to make you feel "warm & fuzzy".

I have joined my office's run/walk team and we are official sponsors of the AIDS Walk Washington 2007. It is a 5K event, one running and one walking. From what I understand, to participate officially in either the run or the walk it is $25, which is all donated to the AIDS effort. If you're interested, please let me know.

Here's some official info:

The AIDS Walk benefits the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, DC --- Whitman-Walker is a nonprofit organization that provides critically important health care services to those living with HIV/AIDS as well as offering basic health services to low-income and uninsured individuals in the Washington metro area. You can find out more about the Clinic at http://www.blogger.com/www.wwc.org
Every donation - big or small - brings hope and provides needed care for those less fortunate then many of us. (BTW -- contributions are 100 percent tax deductible)

You can make donations online via my personal AIDS Walk Washington website
(All online transactions are secure, but if you feel more comfortable you can also print a donation form at my website and mail it. Checks should be made payable to AIDS Walk Washington and mailed to PO Box 73768, Washington DC 20056-3768.)

As you may know, HIV/AIDS is one of the most critical issues facing Washington, DC:
It's estimated that one in every 20 adults in the District of Columbia is infected with HIV.
DC has a higher rate of HIV infection than most sub-Saharan African nations.
DC has the highest rate of new AIDS cases per 100,000 people in the US -- a rate that is 12 times the national average.
In DC, the greatest increase in AIDS cases is occurring among people of color, women, injection drug users and through heterosexual contact.
In DC, African-Americans account for eight out of every 10 cases of AIDS.
More than 15,000 people in the Washington metropolitan area live with AIDS. Tens of thousands more people are estimated to be infected with HIV.

I got tagged?

2007-08-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what this is, but I've been "tagged" by two people now, and both had the same questions, so I guess I'm supposed to answer them. enjoy!

Tag you're it!

4 JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. APCO Worldwide - junior associate
2. Smiles by Design - marketing director
3. JetBlue Airways - corporate communications intern
4. ICON Health & Fitness - graphic artist

4 MOVIES I CAN ALWAYS WATCH:
1. Seabiscuit
2. The Pianist
3. Count of Monte Cristo
4. Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken

4 PLACES I'VE LIVED:
1. Crystal City, VA
2. Logan, UT
3. Chicago, IL
4. New Canaan, CT

4 TV SHOWS I ENJOY:
1. Heroes!
2. The Office
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Project Runway

4 FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Pot Roast & Potatoes
2. Chinese
3. Bread
4. Sushi

4 WEBSITES I VISIT:
1. Blogs
2. PRWeek.com
3. CNN.com
4. mapquest.com

4 PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. With Shiloh
2. Connecticut
3. Hawaii
4. Shopping

4 BLOGGER BUDDIES TO TAG:
1. Megan
2. Julie
3. Shana
4. Paige

WHO TAGGED ME:
Melissa
Shana

4 More Months

2007-08-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

I have done a really poor job at keeping up this blog the last few weeks. With the new job starting, and preparing for Shiloh's departure, I haven't found myself with much extra time. So I guess this will be another "catch up" posting.

Shiloh left on Thursday, he arrived in Pocatello today around 3:00pm. Tonight he's at a Church BBQ. The trip was a little eventful, Thursday night he was forced to stop driving a little early because of flood and tornado warnings in Illinois. His last semester of school starts on Monday. We're both excited for graduation.

The job is going well. The first month or so of a job is never fun - trying to understand how you fit into the new world you've been shoved into. After a summer (3 months) off of work, my brain was a little out of shape. I frequently felt like I could not get my brain to function normally. By Friday each week my brain still feels a little fried, but I'm confident that eventually that will go away too. If you want more job details, you'll have to call or email me.

I'm living with my aunt in Falls Church, VA while Shi's gone. Its about 15 minutes further commute in the morning, but it is cheap and nice not to live alone. It's only been a few days, but I was telling Shiloh today that it seems like he's been gone at least a couple of weeks. It's going to be an interesting 4 months.

Montana Trip

2007-08-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took a quick trip to the town where Shiloh went to high school -- Glasgow, MT. His parents moved from Glasgow a year or two after Shi graduated, and he hadn’t been back since. Shi’s 10 year reunion was being held, it was so fun to go and meet old friends, see places that I’ve heard about and experience a little of what high school life was like for him.

Friday night there was a check-in for all of the attendees. We got to spend all evening chatting and catching up with old friends, even a few from other graduating classes showed up.

Saturday’s event was a BBQ in Fort Peck (I think), there was a pavilion with horseshoe pits and a sand volleyball court. One of the classmates busted out an accordion and played the school’s fight song. It was hilarious!

Later that day we went with some friends to the lake and ended up taking a boat around the reservoir for the remainder of the day. It was so nice and relaxing!

Shiloh had been telling me about this amazing local pizza place called Eugene’s, so that night we broke away from the festivities for a few minutes to get some great pizza. It was delicious!

Later we met up with friends again, this time at The Oasis. It is this little bar and everything is covered in red pleather! Below is a funny picture displayed in the bar.

Sunday we made our way to Shi’s old church building. We enjoyed the meeting and caught up with old friends of the family for a while afterwards. Then we rushed off to the reunion’s closing brunch. After the brunch, we drove over to the highschool to take a look around. Here are some lovely shots.

Getting home was quite an ordeal. Northwest canceled a ton of flights, our connecting flight to DC was one of them. So we were sent down to Houston and then over to a different airport in DC. Our friend, Brooke Rowe was so nice! Not only did she watch Adi for the weekend, but when I called her to tell her that we were going to be later than we thought, she offered to pick us up from the airport. (we weren't sure how to get home from the new airport) What a good friend!

We had a really great time with all of Shi’s old classmates. His graduating class was really small (around 80) and so the whole group is pretty close. Shiloh had forgotten a lot of memories from high school and the trip successfully brought them back. We are so glad we went!

An addition to my last post: I accepted a position with a large PR Firm with a big office here in D.C. This is the firm that I have been interviewing with all summer. It really makes me glad that I turned down the position with the oral surgeon’s office. I will be starting Monday, August 6th and am excited to start! Sadly, this means that I will not be returning with Shiloh to Idaho for the fall. I am a bit stressed about the thought of living alone or with roommates for the next 4 months… we’ll see how it goes. If you have any questions, let me know, I’d be happy to fill you in.