National Harbor Weekend

Well, we're back.  Actually we got home before 11am yesterday.  It was a very nice weekend and I'm so glad we took the opportunity to do it.  Big thanks to my IL's and my parents for each taking the kids for a day/night!  Nothing like leaving them safe and sound with their grandparents!

Sooooo, here's the run down (and without any photos of the 2 of us - the people that took our photo clearly don't know how to partially hold down a button to auto-focus - seriously, how hard is it really, people??):

Jason and I hit the road a little before 5pm on Friday after hugging and kissing the kids and sending them off for their night with Big Dad and Nana.  I always get sad when they leave.  I could tell Caroline was a little anxious about it but I know she was putting on her brave face. We arrived before 6:30 at our hotel, the Westin, National Harbor.  All in all it was a nice hotel - great location, comfy bed, really nice bathroom, clean, etc.  Very glad we didn't stay in the Gaylord!  (I'd read it totally wasn't worth the money at almost twice the price!)  I think if I went again, I'd be fine staying at the Hampton or the Residence Inn which are slightly less expensive and just as centrally located.  Our biggest issue was while the room was cool, the whole hotel was kind of "moist."  Definitely needed a dehumidifier!  So it kind of irritated both mine and Jason's allergies.  But other than that, it was very nice.

Our dinner reservations at Grace's Mandarin weren't until 8pm, so we got dressed and went down to the hotel bar for a drink.   The bar overlooked the Potomac River and it was a nice way to start the evening.  Then we headed over to the restaurant and had some fantastic sushi to start the meal along with trying sake for the first time. (That's my photo next to the giant Buddha!) We each had a really good entree and decided to get dessert elsewhere.  We strolled through "town," ate ice cream and people watched.  The place was pretty busy since in addition to everyone staying at National Harbor, the area attracts a lot of locals - much like Harbor Place in Baltimore.  We were both tired from our usual early, Friday morning starts so we went back to the hotel knowing we'd be walking a lot the next day.

We ended up having breakfast at the hotel's restaurant since we both wanted to make sure we had some protein and not just a bagel or something so we wouldn't be starving when we got to Mount Vernon.   We then boarded the 11am Potomac cruise over to Mt. Vernon and enjoyed a lovely, open decked ride down the river.  It was so hot already but the wind on the open water was plentiful.  We arrived at Mt. Vernon around noon and hiked around the grounds since we didn't have a ticket to go inside the mansion until after 1pm.  So much has changed since I went in 1986!  We checked out the farm, the gardens, the animals, and finally got to the mansion and spent a little time in George and Martha's air conditioning.  Then we ventured down to the museum and history exhibit building where the air conditioning was VERY good and cold!

The heat wasn't terrible but had we had kids with us, I think it might have been more difficult.  All these parents pushing these huge strollers up gravel walk ways made me sweat just watching them! Our boat back to National Harbor left at 4pm so we enjoyed another slow cruise back up the Potomac.

Our dinner reservations at McCormick & Schmick's weren't until 7:30 so we had plenty of time to cool off and shower before going back out in the heat.  Dinner that night was very good and National Harbor was hopping once again!   We browsed the many stores and made our way back to the waterfront to watch the 9:30pm fireworks.

Finally, Sunday morning arrived and even though check out at the hotel wasn't until noon, we were up around 8am, had a quick walk through "town" grabbing some coffee and bagels and decided not to wait around.  We'd already been through most of the stores and most of the stores weren't even opening until 11am since it was a Sunday.  Traffic was a breeze on the way home and I was happy to be home fairly early so that I could get the house together before getting the kids.  I had so much energy after a weekend away without being hassled by the 3 little people even though I was looking forward to seeing them.

Finally, we arrived at my mom's around 1:30pm and the kids were so happy to see us.  Bryce was a little strange with us (as he was starting to get with my mom) and I think he was just having a hard time without us.  I remember Caroline and Bryce were getting like that after I'd been in the hospital 2 days after having Piper.  We were all happy to see each other and we ended up spending the rest of the day at my mom's since it was so hot and there's nothing better than spending a hot day by the pool.

National Harbor really is a cool little place that's easy to get to and not in the craziness of actual DC.  Although if you're going to be in DC, it's not the best place to stay since it takes a while to get there from that location and there isn't a Metro stop nearby.  We also recognize that you really do need something to do during the day because if you don't plan something, you'd probably get bored before the typical evening things start up.  Although maybe that will change in a few years when Disney comes to National Harbor?  I mean really, the place has only truly been in existence for about 2 years and it's still getting a lot of it's stores and restaurants established.  Jason and I both said it's like enjoying the perks of a city, without actually being in one.

Jobbed

Whew! Well, the wait is over and my limbo is behind me. My job is safe, unfortunately I can't say the same for another person in my office but I think that person will end up being okay in the long run after the shock wears off. And thankfully, my job won't be terribly affected by the loss of a staff member either.

My supervisor is hopeful that this will be the lowest point we hit before we finally start seeing some recovery, but only time will tell. I feel very grateful for my own job along with the fact that the people I work closest with are unaffected - working here without those ladies would be difficult to say the least. Especially my "work mother." (I don't have a work "husband" but I definitely have a mother here!)

So at the end of the day, things are looking peachy. My stress level has gone down significantly, the craziest application time at work is coming to a close and I'm looking forward to spring and summer. I'm not sure what the future holds for me career-wise but I'm going to keep my options open in case some perfect, 30 hour a week job comes my way. I love working in higher education though, so it's hard to tarry too far from the field.

Deep sigh of relief. Whewwwwwwwww!

Cutting Our Losses

Well, our new PC arrived early this week and we are adjusting to the new machine and not having the ease of transition from the old machine. It's a really fantastically fast PC and I'm not even too bugged by Vista, so I guess that's good. Jason spent a few hours this morning working on the old one trying to get it to release some of the lost data but to no avail. That thing really went kaput without ANY warning. This morning I spent a good deal of time getting our old grocery Access database going again. Jason and I have pretty much memorized the store so we know where most things are. It's just a matter of building up the potential items again. I think we had nearly 300 items in it before and after today's grocery list/run, it's only got 58.

The other loss is our address database and thankfully in the internet culture we live in, finding someone's address in a pinch is usually pretty easy. However, please accept my apologies if you don't get a Christmas card this year and were expecting one. We'll do our best to make sure everyone we usually send them to gets one but without my historical data it's a bit harder.

I've also lost a good deal of my email addresses and handy bookmarks as well. Of course Facebook has saved most of my contacts since just about everyone I know (ahem, Kevin) is on Facebook so if I really need their email address, I can either find it on their page or just send them a message. Pretty freaking great, if you ask me. But again, if I haven't emailed you in a while, you will know why.

As for our photos, we seem to have lost our photos on our machine from 2/8 through March 7. However, I had uploaded a bunch of photos to my Facebook and Google accounts so I was able to recover the snow day, Piper's 7 month shots, and a few others. The only thing I lost were the photos of Caroline and Bryce at G's birthday party at the end of February since I hadn't uploaded them anywhere online.

I also lost a bunch of typed up copies of recipes, but most of them are printed out in hard copy in my recipe box, so all is not completely lost. And heck, I got most of them online anyway, so it's not too hard to find them again either.

I think my biggest loss though are all my digital creations/scrapping I've done. While I had backed up oodles of my actual elements over a year ago, I didn't back up the actual creations. Although I did save a bunch of them on my Facebook account so they're not lost forever but I'm a little sad about it. Plus, I collect digital freebies all year and I lost ALL that I'd been saving since my last backup and that's a bummer too.

Oh and filed under my "WTF?" category is the music we lost. All my MP3s are fine but any of the files that I downloaded from Urge music service, are locked. Urge went belly up about 2 years ago and on the old machine they continue to play but on a new machine it's looking for the licensing which you can only get from the online service that no longer exists. We use Rhapsody now, which absorbed Urge, and they were NO help. Basically told me "sorry about your luck" so you can bet, from now on, I'll be converting all my downloaded music into MP3 format right away. I'm also looking into some relatively inexpensive software that will let me convert the DRM protected WMAs into MP3 format. Jason is looking into it as well. I understand that these companies need to protect their music but the fact that I can't renew the license b/c the company is gone is pretty messed up.

I'm sure there are other things I haven't even thought about yet, but those are the biggies. Thankfully though, since this wasn't our 1st hard drive loss we learned our lesson pretty well the first time and were not as devastated as we were were in 2003. We learned again from this one and hopefully if this were to happen again we'll be in better shape. It's just amazing how much your life is intertwined with technology without even realizing it. You work, you play, you socialize.

Live and die by the computer, I suppose.

Saturday Valentines

Even though we give the kids little prezzies for Valentine's Day, Jay and I generally don't exchange gifts. Cards, yes, but no gifts since we like to take the opportunity to go out for dinner. Not really because of Valentine's Day - but more of an excuse to get out, if that makes sense.

So the kids spent the evening/night with my parents (and apparently had a fantastic time!) while we headed down to Pazo. This was our 2nd trip, our 1st being over a year ago. And while the restaurant itself hadn't changed, but menu had evolved. Previously, it had been an all tapas menu but now it had the tapas in addition to entrees since I guess people really wanted a more traditional dining experience. So Jason went with the 2 tapas an entree and I decided to do 5 tapas since I couldn't decide between the huge variety of things. 4/5 were amazing and the 5th was just so-so. Of course we had dessert and coffee (decaf for me!) and made it home before 10pm. I must say though, I did miss having a nice glass of wine with my meal but drinking sparkling water wasn't terrible considering it made our bill significantly less than if I'd had wine and a mixed drink of some sort.

The place was hopping as usual and with lots of other Valentine diners. The thing that is interesting about the place is how close the tables are together and how the music is a bit loud. (It has a rather large loungey area and apparently is almost a night club as the dining side starts to wind down.) But Jason and I both think that if the music wasn't that loud, you wouldn't be able to sit that close to other diners and not feel like they were listening to your conversation. Although when we first sat down, the couple on our one side were a bit annoying and talking VERY loud and were clearly on a first date of some sort but were obnoxiously clasping hands the entire 45 minutes they continued to sit there and gab. We were glad when they left and were replaced with a more normal couple.

So while Pazo is definitely a tasty and fun place to eat, I would not recommend it for long, romantic dinners where you share your soul with someone. So maybe it is good for a first date since you don't have to worry about awkward silence. Not that I have to worry about that anymore.

Primary Voting: Attempt #2

Well, I made it to the polls, but getting there was treacherous. I left work at a little after 4pm and it was freezing rain. Something you don't think about in freezing rain (or at least I didn't) was that if your car is cold, your car will be coated in ice in seconds. My car sat in the garage all day and I just pulled out and went and then my windsheild was covered instantly. I pulled over and waited for my car to heat up so it would all melt. And then on the drive home, I saw 5 accidents. FIVE. And all 5 of them were in the last few miles of my drive - one had JUST happened before I came upon it and I was relieved to see the people with their kids safely on the outside. (There were lots of people pulled over to help and people on their cell phones calling for EMS.)

I was so relieved to get to the polls, vote, and then get home. We heard from both sets of parents and one of the grandparents too. I'm glad we all made it home safely tonight.

Have I mentioned I'm sick of winter?

Primary Voting: Attempt #1

Pull up in front of my polling place at 7:35am (local school) and see lots of people coming and going. I barely get out of my car and a woman tells me not to bother b/c all the polling machines are down and they are waiting for someone to come and fix them.

Man, that means I'll have to go AFTER work when the lines are long. Ho hum...but you've gotta do your civic duty, especially in a close race like this one!

Speaking of Technology....

I've been aware for a long time of the ability for anyone to remote desktop from any PC in the world to another but had never been able to do it to my desktop at work. Yes, the software is out there, but it wasn't supported by the university and it would have cost me to attain it. I'll never forget the time that Bracken, who was my supervisor at the time, printed some documents to our office printer from Thailand. How cool is that? However I found out later that she had some special set up to do it and it wasn't something I could do without some special installation. But I was happy when the university started using virutal workspace since it's almost as good, but not quite.

But now the university has set up supported remote desktop software and I installed it yesterday and it works! Not that I have any particular reason that I would need to work from home (or anywhere else in the world) but just the fact that I can is making me happy.

Does it make me a geek to get that excited about remote desktop? Yeah, it probably does.

October?

The days are getting shorter, the trees are starting to change from green to lovely autumn colors, the mornings are dark, Halloween decorations are showing up everywhere, thoughts of Thanksgiving are starting to enter my mind, and yesterday afternoon we turned on our AIR CONDITIONING.

WHAT?!?!?!

Yep, the old AC was running in October. What is up with that? Although I'm not surprised given how HOT September was except for that random mid-September weekend where we thought fall was coming and I rushed out to buy cool weather clothes for the kids. (None of which they have worn.)

The kids are still wearing sandals and shorts and yesterday afternoon, we got home and our house was sweltering. I remember years past when occassionally maybe you'd need to turn the heat on in early October - at least for the overnight. But the AC? This isn't California, folks. It's MD. Are we going to go right from summer to winter without a fall to speak of? At this rate, it might be in the 60's on Thanksgiving.

Maybe I'm just a 4 seasons type of girl, but I guess I'm ready to enjoy some days in the upper 60's rather than sweating when I take a walk across campus. Autumn, where are you?

The Zen of an Outdoor Shower

Probably one of my favorite things about going to the beach is the outdoor shower. I don't know what it is, but something about taking a shower INSIDE while I'm at the beach is just gross to me. Maybe because it's so humid (even with the AC) or because you're taking a shower in a bathrooom that you know lots of other have used before you - but when I'm at the beach I just cannot bring myself to take a shower indoors. And not only that, there is just nothing better than coming back from the beach all hot, sweaty, salty, and sandy (the 3 S's of the beach!) and getting into that outdoor shower and getting all that beach stuff washed off and feeling the ocean breeze around your ankles. I always come out feeling like a new person and so refreshed. I look forward to it almost as much as I do actually coming to the beach.

Mmmmm! I would love to have one outside at my house just to use in the summer but I'm guessing it just wouldn't be as special or as much of a treat if I had one all the time.

Anyone else enjoy indulging in an outdoor shower?

A Note on my my wedding gown...

You know it's funny that two of you have said that you have had your gown preserved b/c I'd always planned on doing that, but never got around to it. (Seven years later, can you say procrastination??) Anyway, my mom who just adored the photos, told me now that she was glad I'd never had it preserved like that. And you know what? I'm really glad too. I guess I don't have very high hopes that my daughter would ever wear my gown - if she's like me, she'll want her own or at least the fun of shopping for one - but to me, this is a way of getting some "use" out of it.

Now I would like to get it cleaned and maybe store it in one of those acid-free boxes with acid-free tissue paper, but now that I've seen how great the results can be with something like this, I'll never want to "lock it up." Not that I'll ever let her play dress up in it (she asked to get down off the stool shortly after and said she wanted to play out the scene where Elastagirl marries Mr. Incredible), but I think special occassions like this make it worth it.

A Sunday Anniversary

So we made the best of our anniversary being on a Sunday and took the kids over to my mom's for the day. A day of swimming, playing and hanging out with Aunt Chrissa, Bertie, Pop Pop, and Boomer? Sounds like fun to me! And we went to see Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix. I've always liked the HP films well enough but always thought that the books were extraordinarily better. Well, in my opinion, this film blew the previous 4 films out of the water. Not only was it completely heartfelt and moving, but it was completely true to JK Rowling's intentions of the book. In fact, in some ways it was better than the book because this book contains so much emotion in the characters that I don't always think can come across on the pages. But I think the thing that was so amazing about this film is that the 5th book in the HP series was by far the most difficult to read. It is ridden with Harry's anger and angst at the situations he finds himself in and the reader begins to feel as frustrated and hopeless as Harry at times. So the fact that this film took probably my least favorite of the HP series and turned it into the best film so far, is a big deal.

Don't get me wrong, I'd still HIGHLY recommend reading the books before seeing the films since the books have so much more detail and nuances that the films will never be able to capture, but to me, this film has done the best job so far. And I believe that the same director that did HP 5 will also be doing HP 6 which is due to begin filming soon.

So charged up after seeing a great film, Jay and I went downtown for dinner. Dinner was good but it's odd eating out on a VERY warm, hazy Sunday early evening - we were some of the only people in the restaurant. But we were not disappointed and even stopped at Cold Stone Creamery for dessert. So overall, a very tastebud tantalizing meal.

New Window Treatments

My mom offered to make me some window treatments for my bedroom and the playroom back in the winter, so I went and picked out some really great material for her to work with. She just finished them and here are the results. She does such nice work: My bedroom: (Please ignore Jason's doodads on top of the armoire.) And the kid's playroom: (Those are little sunshines hanging from the ends of them.) It's amazing how much they change the way the room looks.

Thank You Benedryl!

I was so itchy last night before bed, I just decided to suck it up and take the Benedryl and hope that I wouldn't be too groggy this morning. So I took two and hoped for the best. Thank goodness I did!! My bites were less swollen this morning and I wasn't even groggy! Whew! They're still a little itchy today - but they usually are in the morning so we'll see how it goes. I'm just hoping they look better by Saturday since we'll be taking the kids to baby Taki's 1st birthday party and they will want to go swimming in Gigi and Popou's (Jackie & Jim) pool. I don't need to look like I have some weird skin disease at a kid's birthday party.

Itch like a bitch

OMG, I am miserable. These damn mosquito bites that are ALL over the backs of my thighs are horrible. HORRIBLE. The slightest touch and they start itching LIKE MAD. I bought some calamine lotion last night - the good old fashioned pink stuff - and to my surprise, it is the stuff I've found works best. But, it doesn't last for long and it's messy b/c it has to dry. And did I mention, it's PINK???? And then to add to it, I've developed this weird rash all over my stomach and back. It's slightly raised and a little itchy. WTH?

I had Nurse Mom look at it this evening and she thinks I should see the doctor. Oh wait, tomorrow is Thursday - the day the office is closed. I'm seriously starting to think about changing our family doctor. I really like the guy we have - he's very thorough and believes in holistic care to his patients. I've also been able to get in touch with him when needed when the kids have been sick. He's also no problem to get referrals from and will give you samples of an rX if needed. But....if you want to get an appointment, it's not that easy. He's the only one in his practice and I think he has too many patients. My parents see him too - what can I say? We like Dr. Q. And then I worry about having to actually find another good doctor.

I better go, I've got some itching to do. Maybe I should duct tape some oven mitts on my hands like they did to Phoebe on Friends when she had the chicken pox.

31

No, not my age. That's how many mosquito bites I have just on my right leg. I am a virtual mosquito buffet.

I wish we could do what Caroline says. "I'm going to tell all those MO-squitos to go to another town."

I wish, babe. I wish.

RIP Josie and Mr. Wizard

My poor ILs had to have their golden retreiver, Josie, put to sleep yesterday. She wasn't even 8 years old yet. Poor dog had a tough life, health wise. She blew out the equivalent of her ACL 3 times - twice on one hind leg, once on the other and had to have major surgery to repair it. And then in the past few months, they've noticed she's been in pain again and limping badly. She could barely get up recently. The vet felt something that he thought may be cancerous and they had a schedule x-ray and biopsy yesterday. FIL told the vet that if it looked bad, to not even wake her up from the anesthesia. The vet didn't even need to do the biopsy - the x-ray showed an aggressive form of cancer and poor Josie never woke up. Caroline really liked "Jos" and we haven't told her yet but we plan to in the next couple of days before we go up there again.

And then I hear this morning that Mr. Wizard died. I LOVED Mr. Wizard as a kid on Nickelodeon and my dad watched him growing up in the 60's too. He said he'll always remember Mr. Wizard showing off this new fangled device called a microwave and my dad was amazed that it could cook a hot dog in 1 minute! Of course, Mr. Wizard seemed old to me then, but he was 89 when he died, so I guess he was in his early 60's when I watched him. I always loved his experiments and credit him for giving a lot of kids an interest in science.

Thumbs Down, Starbucks

I actually was running EARLY this morning and decided to use my extra few minutes on my way to work to stop in and use my Starbucks gift card. I'm always up for trying new coffee drinks and saw that they had a new one.....Orange Mocha. I figured, I like their mochas and I'd like to try something new and I do like orange chocolates a little bit. So, I stepped up and ordered a non-fat grande, Orange Mocha, no whip. Well, bad idea. BLECH.

The only people that should try it, should be those that are totally and completely OVER THE TOP in love with orange chocolate. It is not a good combination with coffee and it is just way too strong. I expected a light orange chocolate flavor given that some of their other espresso drinks aren't too over the top. But this just about bowled me over.

Don't get me wrong, I drank most of it (I needed the caffiene!), but it was definitely NOT something I'd try again. Makes me wish I'd stuck to my gut and gotten the Dulche de Leche latte or the Cinnamon Dolce latte. Oh well, such is life.

They Have A Date!

I wanted to send a big congrats out to my brother, Kevin, and his fiance, Kelly, who just set their date for their wedding - May 31, 2008! YAY for Kevy Kevro! They've asked Caroline and Bryce to be in it - so that should be VERY interesting - an almost 3 year old and 4 1/2 year old. Cute, but look out! Although Caroline did very well in Jay's sister's wedding in July and she was just 2 1/2. Bryce in a little suit or tux - now THAT will be freaking adorable!

Traffic Gods - I Scorn You!

I swear, I don't know what it is lately, but the traffic in the mornings has been TERRIBLE. The other day it was a terrible accident on 95, today it was a disabled vehicle on 695. And generally, it's just been slow and backed up everywhere. What gives? The traffic wasn't this bad during the first week of school this year (usually the worst traffic time!). Ugh - only a little over a month until schools are out and then I get a little break in the mornings. At least classes are out here in 3 weeks so traffic around campus will be a little better.

In other news, Bryce did sleep peacefully through the night. His nose was still running some this morning, but his face looked better - not puffy anymore. But he certainly woke up on the WRONG side of the bed. He was pissed all morning. Throwing stuff and screaming at everything. I finally ignored him and he calmed down. I hate when he wakes up in these moods. I hope this isn't 'roid rage.

Yes, I'm Busy

So January is a hellish time at work for me. Many of our higher applicant programs have looming deadlines and that means that I have oodles to do everyday. Not that I don't stay busy all day the rest of the year, but in January I don't take breaks. (e.g. I don't take time to check my email or blog.) I also eat my lunch while doing work and before I know it, it's 4:30 and I'm out the door. And since I'm making a valiant effort to get on that treadmill at least 3 nights a week for 30 minutes, that takes away from tech time too.

That just means that January is a lean blog month for me. Also there's not much news except Caroline and Bryce brought home a snotty cold and Jason and I are dealing with it now. Although I've been taking Airborne and it seems that my scratchy throat is sticking around and I'm not getting the congestion that Jay has. Maybe that's how it works with these homeopathic remedies.

I'm also helping the site administrator/owner of the mom's bulletin board that I'm a part of do some updating of the knowledgebase as we get ready to transition over to some really fabulous new bulletin board software.

So that's where I've been. Oh and it's hella cold. But it should be. It's January. And my fingers always seem to be cold when I'm at the computer.