When Did I Become So Frickin' Domestic?

I found this awesome tofu and spinach lasagna recipe online the other day, so I decided to attempt to make it. I had no real hope of it turning out right - I've made peace with the fact that I am not a good cook, and most of the things I try to make, especially the first time, turn out unappetizing, ugly, burnt, raw, or otherwise inedible. I had Pizza Hut on speed dial, let's just put it that way.

But, much to Joe and my wonder, it turned out AWESOME and because of this, it deserved it's own blog entry. I was very proud - can't you just see the pride in my eyes??


It's a beautiful thing, and get this - it also tasted awesome!! No really, it did. Joe even went back for seconds and even though he never really complains about what I make, and always tries to make "yummy" sounds and say that is tastes good, I can always tell that it's never "that" good, in his opinion. :-) This time I could tell he actually liked it - even though it had tofu in it!!

A total win for me!

Ice Skating in downtown Washington D.C.

Saturday was a packed day! First, Joe and I took a 2-hour drive into the middle of Virginia to conduct a home visit for IG Rescue. The house was out in the middle of nowhere and was owned by two retired intelligence officers who wanted to start volunteering for us. They had two Italian Greyhounds of their own, and they turned out to be great people! Their house was built around an original 1700's cabin and they had tons of stories to tell about its history. Really amazing.



Then, we drove home, walked the dogs, and hopped on the metro to meet Stuart at his place for dinner. Stuart cooked us veggie burgers and tater tots, and after we stuffed ourselves, we headed downtown for ice skating! I haven't ice skated since my teens, and Joe had never been on skates, so it was an adventure! We had so much fun, though!





This picture is my favorite - Stuart took a picture right when Joe was about to fall and I was holding him up. The expressions on our faces are priceless!

It was definitely great exercise as well as a ton of fun!

That was the big adventure for the weekend. The rest of the weekend was spent recovering (I slept in until 11:00 on Sunday) and resting up for the work week.

Supporting Courage Campaign's "Fidelity"

Joe and I support this cause and wanted to share this very moving video with you.



If you are moved to take action, visit http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/divorce and sign the petition to invalidate Prop 8.

Feeling Very Loved on Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day, I will be getting sappy, so for those of you who are not privy to that kind of talk, log off now and check back later. I will totally understand. :-)

I was just talking to Joe the other day about the fact that even though both of our families are a wee bit crazy (you know you are!), they are such wonderful people, so supportive of us, and love us so much. It's a really nice feeling. So then Valentine's Day rolls around, and look at the sweet things we found sitting next to our front door!

First, my mom sent us a variety box of coffee for our kick-ass coffee maker. We ran out of coffee about a month and a half ago, and because we are really trying to save money, we couldn't buy more. I have been able to have a delicious, perfect cup of coffee now for the last several days. Thank you Mom!!

My Dad is currently in Hawaii, and has been for a month now, lucky bastard. I've talked to him a couple times and he is always lounging around on the beach, soaking up the 75 degree weather. Anyway, Joe came home one afternoon, after running some errands, and found this sitting by the front door:

That's right, my father sent me a COCONUT from Hawaii!! How crazy is that? It has my address on it, and my dad, uncle and aunt wrote messages on the outside. It was definitely the most unique thing I have every received!

And then Joe texted me to inform me that I had received something from HIS father! A box of Sees Chocolates! It was so sweet because his dad gets all the woman in his family Sees Chocolates for Valentine's Day. It's like his thing - and it's tradition to go to the same Sees store and pick out the perfect box for each girl. It made me feel incredibly special that he sent one all the way to me... plus, they are so good and I can't stop eating them. I keep telling Joe to stay away from them - they were sent to ME after all.

So, you have to admit that our families are so sweet and thoughtful and we are very lucky to have them. :-)

Now, look at this beautiful bouquet of flowers. :-) Joe brought these to me at work on Friday. He definitely got props for that, considering I work in an office full of woman. Lots of "ooo"s and "ahh"s in the office. The bouquet has lilies, daisies and carnations in it - three of my favorite flowers. And it smells wonderfully!

Then last night he made me a surprise dinner - falafel from scratch! Now, that may not sound good to some of you, but falafel happens to be one of my all-time favorite foods and they are very time-consuming to make from scratch. Isn't he just the sweetest??

The dinner turned out so great and we ate by candlelight on our coffee table! We still don't have chairs for our kitchen table, but this ended up being very romantic! Champagne with raspberries topped it all off.

I was in charge of dessert, so I made chocolate fudge cake with pink frosting. I made a powdered sugar heart on top, too. It was goooood.

All-in-all, a perfect Valentine's Day. I would love to hear about yours!

A Handsome Boy and a Sleepy Girl

So, Joe and I took the puppies to their Valentine's Party last weekend. I only got a couple pictures. Jack had such a great time getting some of his winter energy out and he plays SO great with the little iggies. He is always the only non-iggy there, and everyone always loves him. Isn't he just the handsomest fellow?


Ava actually did really well, too. She is always so much more playful and confident when her big brother is around. She played hard and was totally exhausted afterward. She crashed on the way home:


This is also the party where I hosted a raffle. I was able to get some fabulous prizes to raffle off (donated by Pawlitics in Rockville, Dogs & Company in Columbia, and Bark in Olney - all wonderful stores, you should check them out!) and am happy to announce that we made $183 for Rescue! It was a great success!

Too Much Snow & A Beautiful New Family

I miss my family, so I thought I'd share a couple pictures.

This is my dad, plowing snow in front of his house in Wenatchee, WA. They got hit with a TON of snow that doesn't seem to be going away quite fast enough. Soon after this snow plowing, though, he left for a month-long trip to Hawaii with his brother. He's retired. He gets to do stuff like that all the time. Lucky dude.

This is my beautiful niece Kaylie, and her newborn baby boy, Mason. (Oh, and my mother's big fat thumb.. geez! The only picture I get of the two of them, and she had to include her thumb!) Don't they look precious, though? She is just glowing and he is sleeping oh-so-soundly in his mommy's arms.

Katherine Turns 1/4 Century Old!

Katherine Wilson is a friend of Stuart's, which is how I met her. She is originally from Maryland, but moved to Seattle for a year for an adventure. She found it, moving into a house with 10 other women... and Stuart. She is now back in Maryland and we have been able to all get together a few times to catch up. She is a great person, so full of energy, and this weekend was her 25th birthday!

Happy birthday Katherine! Hope the next 1/4 century is even better than the first!

Joe is Officially a Licensed Chiropractor!

Joe received his license in the mail yesterday! He is officially a licensed chiropractor in the state of Virginia!

I'm a Great-Aunt!

I am extremely happy to announce that my beautiful niece, Kaylie, had a beautiful baby boy yesterday at 3:15 p.m. PST. Mason Iszaiah Reynolds was born over a week late and weighed a whopping 9 pounds, 8 ounces and was 22 inches long.

I'm so sad that I couldn't be there to welcome him to our family! Sometimes it's really hard to be so far away from "home"...

Here is the handsome prince, doesn't he look huge??



Kaylie did an amazing job both being pregnant and giving birth. I am very proud of her! Welcome, Mason! You're in for a hell of a ride!

It's Been a While...

It's been a long time since I've updated. What has been going on?

Work: Staying extremely busy, had my yearly review and received a 3% raise, moved offices and now I have a window!

Volunteer: I am officially the Italian Greyhound Rescue Representative for Virginia! I will be in charge of taking in dogs, transporting dogs, interviewing potential adopters, and adopting out dogs. I got into a scuffle on one of the forums about animal testing, became very emotional, almost quit, then decided I have to focus on helping dogs, not changing people's minds. I'm ramping up my fundraising efforts. I hosted a Superbowl pool that made $195 dollars for Rescue (thank you to all who participated!!), and I am hosting a Valentine's Day raffle where I was able to get fabulous donations from local natural pet supply stores. (Anyone in the D.C. Metro area, check out Bark and Dogs & Company, they are fabulous!)

Joe: Unfortunately, Joe got news that the doctor he was planning on working with sold his business. So, Joe is out of a job again, after turning down two other possible opportunties to go with this guy. It's a bummer, but he's back online searching for other opportunities. We're sure all this is for a reason and that reason will present itself soon enough! On the bright side, he got word that his license was sent out this week, so he should be getting it in the mail any day now!

Dogs: Everything is the same here. They are both still as adorable and crazy as ever. Jackson is getting a little cabin fever with the gross weather outside, though, and Ava is hating the cold more and more. I think everyone will be much happier when Spring comes and there is more sunshine and warmth.

Friends: Joe and I have been out with some new friends I've met at work. Stuart joined us as well. (See pictures below.) I've joined a couple meetup groups in the area and have been to a couple of their get-togethers too. The next one is a book club meeting where the author of the book we are reading (The Sleeping Beauty Proposal) will be joining us on conference call. Very cool!

I guess that's about it. What has everyone else been up to?