A Second Taste

So, I had the chance to baby-sit for our friends this morning. I figured this was finally my shot to have a blog post about cute things that kids do.

They have a 3 year-old, KB, and a 5 month old, Patrick. I would post pictures, but they aren’t my kids. Trust me though, they are ridiculously cute.

Here are some of my observations:

• I can’t think of very many things that feel better than having a 3 year-old open the door and say, “Jenny! I love you.” Awesome way to start the day.
• KB can’t say Patrick, he says Pack Ruck. HOWEVER, if you begin saying Pack Ruck KB will try to correct you.
• Huggies really impressed me today. Really.
• Patrick was pretty happy on the floor with his toys until I left the room to prep his bottle. I asked KB to go keep him company so he didn’t get lonely. KB promptly went into the living room, stroked Patrick on the head, and in his most soothing voice said, “I know. I know.” I thought I was going to die from the cuteness.
• The lucky parents of these two adorable boys are VERY tall. KB will likely be taller than me by age 5. However, right now, he believes and tells me that I am really tall. It’s GREAT!
• Also, I had to get KB’s bathroom step stool just to reach the sippy cups and lids in this house.
• Bah-Keer-Dah means computer in child speak.
• There can be no doubt when you encounter a child of Mac owners. Here is a transcript of a conversation.

Anyway, that was my morning. I’ve been smiling all day.

Since living in Virginia Chance and I have had some serious adventures.

1. Snowmageddon (aka Snowpocalypse)

My honey trudging through the snow We were blissfully trapped in our apartment for a week. Thankfully, we had plenty of food and water. We have multiple friends in our apartment complex so we were all able to get out of the house for a while and share supplies if necessary.

2. The Earthquake of 2011

I don’t have any pictures because our apartment was unharmed by the quake. I was driving to Wal-Mart and didn’t even feel it, but in the District it was a pretty big pain. Allow me to soap box for a moment.

Westerners (especially Californians) have given us some flack about our reaction to the quake. After having lived in California, Washington, Idaho, Kansas, Georgia, and Virginia I have had occasion to experience most of the types of extreme weather. I lived through earthquakes and flash floods in California. I survived a tornado in Kansas that destroyed most of the town I lived in. In Idaho we know how to drive in the snow; in Georgia they don’t, and they shouldn’t be expected to. Roads in Idaho are straight and flat. Makes snow removal a ton easier. In Georgia roads are hilly and windy. That makes driving in it way more dangerous and snow removal heinous. Earthquakes are so common in California that they build roads and buildings to handle it. After experiencing extreme weather, however minor, people learn how to prepare and behave. If we were to have a tornado drill right now I would know exactly what to do. Would you?

I guess my point is, let’s be nice to each other. The earthquake was a big deal here. The National Cathedral, LDS Temple, and Washington Monument all sustained damage. The Monument is still closed. Buildings, roads, and people out here just aren’t built to weather earthquakes the way they are out west.

End soap box. Thank you.

3. Hurricane Irene

Again, we didn’t personally have any problems due to Irene (except our flight to St. Thomas getting delayed.)

We did, however, have friends who were without power. Also, people went nuts at the grocery store in preparation for the weather. You couldn’t find anything, bread, milk, water. It was crazy.

So, during two of these instances Chance and I had time to prepare. We were at home during the worst of the weather and we didn’t have any real problems. During the earthquake I was in the car and Chance was at work. We had no warning. When it initially hit one of Chance’s co-workers pondered aloud, “I wonder which building was bombed.” That possibility is frighteningly real for us. Because of all these experiences I have decided to start researching Emergency Preparedness.

We actually got up early to catch a  ferry to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Island of Tortola.

Here’s a bird chilling out on the ferry.

Entering Tortola was so amazing. Most people know that I totally love Queen Elizabeth II. I think she rocks. So seeing signs that said H.M. anything was epic.

I was excited by every sign I read!

Seriously!

No. SERIOUSLY.

In case those signs don’t convince you that I did, indeed, travel to the British Virgin Islands here is the stamp in my passport!!!!!

My first time on foreign soil!!

At which point I whispered to Chance, “God Save the Queen.” He rolled his eyes and said, “You don’t have to say that!” I replied, “I know! That’s what makes it so special!”

Once we were there we didn’t really know what to do. Considering it is a cruise ship port it isn’t very tourist friendly. We took a taxi from the ferry to the main part of town. Then found a concierge to recommend a breakfast place. It was a water-front hotel with a restaurant inside. Our food was excellent but we were the only people in the restaurant. Instead of being nice a quiet it was just a little eerie.

Using a map and some guides the concierge gave us we decided to walk up to the botanic gardens. We walked through what seemed like some questionable neighborhoods but we finally arrived. It was only $3 a person so we couldn’t resist.

Here I am walking through a very cool tree. You may recognize my sweet messenger bag from the old craft blog!

After walking quite a ways to find this garden, then walking around the garden, our feet were starting to hurt. Chance’s especially since his new shoes were hard at work making a nice blister. We walked back down to the main part of town, searched a bunch of souvenir shops for a magnet, and then took a cab back to the ferry.

I was determined to get a magnet with sand in it, so I could always have British soil! I’ll get some picture of all our magnets later!

We had about half an hour to wait before the ferry arrived. While sitting at the station(?) I:

Observed the local wildlife.

Noticed an engraving that must have been for me.

and I marched Chance around from place to place taking pictures.

So cute.

More cute? Okay.

As an added surprise we got to stop at St. John (another island in the USVI) to go back through customs. I’m a dork so I was excited about it. The guy was like, “Do you have anything to declare?” I was thinking, “Yes. I declare this vacation is AWESOME!” But instead I said, “Um. I bought some magnets…and a flag.”

We got back to our hotel and ate lunch like we had been starved. Then we took naps. Yay vacation!!

After freshening up we spent the late afternoon and early evening snorkeling and swimming in the bay until sunset.

Dinner at Iggy’s was a special treat because they party every Wednesday night.

We watched a Mocha Jumbie.

Listened to a calypso band and watched a fire eater. I didn’t like his performance at all. He seemed like a sad old man who did horrible things to himself for attention. It was awful.

At one point they asked for volunteers so I dragged Chance on stage. It turned out to be a dance contest and every couple that volunteered won two travel size bottles of rum. More on those later.

On our way back to our room we saw a man climb a tree to get a coconut. It was pretty cool but he chickened out at the end. Sad.

Mosquito bite count:

L Arm: 4

L Leg: 6

R Arm: 3

R Leg: 13

Misc: 2

Total: 28

Chance and I took our dream vacation at the end of August. I kept a journal all week and I am so glad I did. I used time on the plane, in airports, and before bed to chronicle our adventures. Sometimes I wrote in paragraphs and other times I jotted down bullet points before crashing for the night. At any rate, I know it’s been over a month but I am going to transcribe all the journal entries onto the blog so they can be shared.

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As part of our continuing adventure in St. Thomas we started the day by sleeping in. Ahhh.

After a slow, relaxing morning we headed over to Iggy’s for lunch. While we were there we finally saw the restaurant’s namesake!

They were SO cool!

Since I got so wicked sunburned on Monday we decided to keep our shirts on and play tourist for the day. The concierge at our hotel set us up with a taxi driver who was also a tour guide. We got a great personalized tour of the island. We learned that St. Thomas is pretty mountainous, however, if it were flat it would be smaller than Chicago O’Hare Airport. Crazy right?

During our tour we visited Mountaintop. A decent tourist trap mostly because of the breathtaking view of Magen’s Bay. They built a massive souvenir shop that you must walk through to get to the view. They also advertise their World Famous Banana Daquiri. Chance and I each got one (virgin, of course) and we were rather unimpressed. To be fair, the Caribbean is known for its rum, so for those of you who partake in alcoholic beverages it still may be quite impressive.

At Mountaintop: Overlooking Magen's Bay

Next on our list of things to see was Drake’s Seat. A Bench now marks the vantage point where Sir Francis Drake was supposed to have looked for enemy ships of the Spanish fleet. From the seat you have a panoramic view of the Virgin Islands where the Atlantic Ocean joins the Caribbean Sea.

We continued our journey over to Paradise Point, yet another location with a famous, fabulous view. That’s sort of the way things work down there; you’re either at the beach or going some place to look at the beach from farther away.

We wrapped up the trip by stopping at a couple souvenir shops on the way back to the hotel.

During dinner Chance enjoyed the All You Can Eat Crab Legs. He got me to try them too. I wasn’t in love with them, but I didn’t hate them either. So, you know, that’s something.

We ended the day by laying in the hammock on the beach and taking some nighttime photos.

I’ve been dyeing my hair since I was fifteen or sixteen. At this point I am pretty much fearless. Let me tell you a couple of stories.

So my BFF from high school, Lindsey, is impulsive. I was always cautious. She always had the crazy ideas that made my life fun and interesting.

The first time I dyed my hair I had it done professionally. I paid a lot for it. Of course, Lindsey was right by my side. When it was done I looked in the mirror and was appalled that I had a halo of fire engine red hair. I was terrified to go home. It took a team of family/friends to re-dye my hair brown and a lot of heavy sighs, eye rolls, and annoyed grunts from the parentals.

Once, during our junior year, I dyed Lindsey’s hair in the bathroom at our high school. This was actually during lunch, so she went to 3rd period with brown hair and then 5th period with black. It was classic. I’m not sure why I didn’t get in the picture, but here she is with our mutual friend, Jenny.

A couple months later (I think) I wanted to dye my hair again too. My parents weren’t too thrilled with the idea, as any sane person can understand. So…we dyed it in the bathroom at Taco Time. No joke. I have really thick hair and it was quite long. We had to go to ShopKo and buy a second box of dye, luckily the Taco Time was basically in the ShopKo parking lot. I stayed with my head in the sink at TT while Linds literally ran to and from ShopKo. Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture of this. You can imagine the look I got when I arrived home and tried to act like nothing happened. Bwah ha ha.

Right before Christmas of Senior year (again, I think) we decided to each buy a box of the same blond color just to see how it would look differently on us. I intended to show you the result, but I can’t find that stupid picture anywhere!!

So, yeah. I’m not afraid of a little hair dye. This last year I’ve started the cycle again with Tana. She has insanely long, thick, curly hair. I might achieve sainthood just for being willing to dye her hair. When she mustered up the courage to go blonde I didn’t hesitate to back her up.

It didn’t go well. I didn’t care.

It looked really brassy and for some reason went all patchy. I dyed over it and it looked perfectly fine.

Well, it has grown out now and I’ve got some pretty nasty roots going on. I decided to try to do a dark brown with a hint of red. I didn’t want maroon or even a true red.

Here is the box I bought:

This picture makes it look more bold than it appeared in real life. At any rate, I didn’t expect fire engine red.

Here is how it turned out on my head:

Don’t think it looks that bad eh? Here’s a close up:

Yeah. That’s my head.

The next question is, why did it completely avoid my roots? Awful!

So, because of my past experiences, I always have a box of my natural color on hand.

Whew.

Somehow I don’t have an after picture. FAIL!

Oh well, this post has been written for a month now and I have just been hoping to find that picture of Lindsey and I. So, I figured you’d rather see the post minus a picture or two than never see the post at all!

Any crazy hair experiences you’d like to share? I’d love to hear them!!

Chance and I took our dream vacation at the end of August. I kept a journal all week and I am so glad I did. I used time on the plane, in airports, and before bed to chronicle our adventures. Sometimes I wrote in paragraphs and other times I jotted down bullet points before crashing for the night. At any rate, I know it’s been over a month but I am going to transcribe all the journal entries onto the blog so they can be shared.

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Our power went off last night in the middle of the night. We woke up because our ceiling fan turned off and the room got really warm. It came back on fairly quickly.

We went down to breakfast and I immediately ordered more of that amazing punch. Then, the one thing I hadn’t prepared for came back to bite me. Literally bite me. Mosquitoes. By the time we finished eating I had 7 mosquito bites on my right leg and 4 on my left . I just spent a small fortune at the gift shop buying stuff to take care of it.

So, I’m sitting here stark naked on the bed getting ready to slather on sunscreen and bug repellent. Chance claims to feel sorry for me but he laughing pretty hard.

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Chance stopped laughing long enough to help me take care of sunscreen, bug spray, and cortizone cream. It was all so exausting that we decided to take a power nap before our day sail.

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At 12:15 we boarded a 53′ catamaran called Heavenly Days. We sailed out to Buck Island. It is a protected wildlife sanctuary so we couldn’t actually step on the island. After the crew spent a few minutes teaching me the ropes, Chance and I spent the next hour or so snorkeling with sea turtles.

Our guide also took us to snorkel around a nearby coral reef. The guide dove down and picked up a sea urchin. We each took turns holding it. Although it looks prickly, the spines started curving in. It didn’t hurt at all.

It was nearly impossible to get me out of the water, but eventually we boarded the catamaran and made the trip back home. We each enjoyed a refreshing Coca-Cola Classic while enjoying the warm breeze and Caribbean views.

We went for a late lunch at our favorite little spot, Iggy’s, before heading back to the room for a much needed nap. Wow, two naps in one day. Awesome.

After waking up from the nap I discovered my back was horribly sun burned.

I spent the rest of the night in bed, absolutely freezing, before falling dead asleep.

Chance and I took our dream vacation at the end of August. I kept a journal all week and I am so glad I did. I used time on the plane, in airports, and before bed to chronicle our adventures. Sometimes I wrote in paragraphs and other times I jotted down bullet points before crashing for the night. At any rate, I know it’s been over a month but I am going to transcribe all the journal entries onto the blog so they can be shared.

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August 28, 2011

I did almost all of our packing yesterday, so we both slept in this morning and got everything done with relatively no fuss. We found out that, because of Hurricane Irene, our friend Jeremy was without power. Since our apartment was unphased by the weather we left him our keys.

The airport was relatively quiet, all things considered, and we got through security more quickly than we expected. Our seats on the plane weren’t together though and both women near me refused to switch with Chance. Thankfully, once we were in the air, the woman next to Chance found a new seat . Flying is so much better with Chance’s arm to cuddle.

We’re in Miami now. We’ll board in about an hour. Seeing the coast of Florida as we were descending was a little surreal. You can’t usually see the state borders so clearly. Plus, it was my first view of the beach. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it!

Flight to St. Thomas

Chance decided to spring for an upgrade for this leg of the trip. We were greeted by a USVI representative who gave us a great magazine as we boarded.

We went to Row 5 and sat down in HUGE seats. I literally sat cross-legged most of the flight. They brought us warm cashews and almonds to snack on, as well as hot towels. (I don’t watch Family Guy but TBS airs the stupid commercials so much I found myself thinking of that baby dropping his pants at the offer of a hot towel.) The culmination of all the luxury was the in-flight meal. I got cheese ravioli and Chance had chicken and veggies. Each meal came with a salad and cheesecake. Wow!

Looking out the window as we flew over the open ocean, I realized that I couldn’t tell where the sea ended and the sky began. It was really incredible. I tried to take some cell phone pictures, but they just don’t do it justice. I also got to watch a storm from the side! I saw huge clouds fill with flashes of lightning. It was SO cool!

Oh! Before I forget, there was also a drunk guy behind us who kept asking the stewardess to be his lover. He had a foreign accent which actually made the whole thing funnier. I’m pretty sure that if she had agreed he would have had no problem just taking care of business in his seat.

After Landing

When we landed in St. Thomas we got off the plane via a stairway. We walked right onto the tiny tarmac and found baggage claim. After a long taxi ride to the hotel we finally arrived at our resort. They were so happy to see us! There was a sign that said, “Welcome Hammock Family!” They brought us delicious fruit punch to sip while we checked in, and then we went on a tour of the resort.

After dropping our luggage in the room we walked to the on-site bar and grille. We took our sandals off and enjoyed a night time stroll along the beach. The food and music were a perfect welcome to the island. Now we’re all unpacked and relaxing in the room listening to the sound of the waves against the shore.

Ten years ago I was a senior in high school.

It was six days before my 18th birthday.

As I stopped at my locker to begin my day I peeked in my History teacher’s classroom. I saw a fire in the World Trade Center.

I sat in my first period English class and watched the reporters fumble for information as the second tower was hit. I remember holding my classmate, Lindsey, as she cried.

Then she returned the favor as I burst into tears as the first tower fell.

Over the course of the next few hours, days, and years we learned what happened. We’ve worked to make sense of it. We got the people responsible.

And President Bush’s words have come true, “This country will define our times, not be defined by them.”

Here is a picture of my journal from that day. I started keeping it on the 9th. I have never been good a journaling. But I’ll never forget the importance of my journaling from that day. I was at work on the 20th when President Bush gave a speech. I was so touched by the above quote that I wrote it on a napkin to insert in my journal later on.

I am so grateful for all the men and women who serve our country in the military, fire, police, and EMT departments. These people, and their families, are truly heroes.

Here are a few pictures of the mementos I have saved from that day.

My last post was really ME-Centric, but there is so much more to tell about the race. You know, like Brian Regan’s “ME Monster“?

My day started at 6:30. I woke up and got ready. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t want to eat too much, there was no point in wearing make-up, I was so nervous! I wasn’t the only person to get up early though. Chance, Bryan, Tervlon, and TMJ all came down to the race route to support me.

Plus, I was on a team with a great bunch of DC-Area crafty bloggers: Andi the Jane of All Crafts, Cassie from Primitive and Proper, Kate from Twenty-Six to Life (along with her awesome hubby), and Sarah The Thriftress. I’m so sad that we didn’t get a team picture! I had hoped that Chance would find us before the race since I didn’t bring a camera, but alas…

At any rate, there were all SO nice! I actually found out about the 5K on Andi’s blog. I wouldn’t have gotten the courage to sign up for this on my own. I’m so grateful to have been on a team with these great ladies.

Cassie and Andi were totally legit runners and finished in like half my time. Kate, Sarah, and I decided to start at the back of the pack of runners but they both bested me as well. I was totally unprepared for how much different it would be to run on the road. My bad leg started hurting really early on so I ended up walking within the first quarter mile. I watched as old ladies passed me  I walked for the rest of the first mile. During the second mile I worked up to running and walking at intervals. I continued that pattern through the first half of the third mile. Amazingly, I found the strength to run that last bit. It was then that I saw Chance and the gang. Lady Luck smiled down on me to make sure that they all saw me when I was running.

After the race I got an opportunity to wander around collecting SWAG (Stuff We All Get). I got pink flip-flops from Old Navy, Key Lime yogurt from Yoplait, a sweat band, a key chain, and some breakfast! I also earned a SGK Reusable shopping bag for raising more than $50. Thank you to all who helped me reach that goal.

I hope to be able to run with these ladies again next year. Maybe I’ll keep pace with Cassie and Andi?

For your convenience here are links to the rest of the team member’s blog posts about the event:

Andi
Cassie
Kate
Sarah (No post quite yet. Stay tuned!)

In April 2009 I was in a very serious car accident in which my tibia and fibula (both bones in my lower leg) were broken; my surgeon informed us that I could have easily lost my leg. Luckily, he was a brilliant spinal surgeon and he put me back together again. I spent two and a half weeks in the hospital and then another 4 months working to walk again.

Here I am in the hospital. After two weeks in I finally had the energy to put on make up and do my hair.

The next picture shows my leg post-op. You can see stitches and it might be a little much for you if you can’t handle wounds. There is only one though! I had a surgery prior to this one that would have provided more weird pictures, but I decided to spare you!

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I have worked really hard over the last two years to lose weight and start exercising. It hasn’t always been easy. I have had to push myself to overcome physical and emotional barriers and fears that would have kept me from trying new things. A couple of months ago I did a Rape Aggression Defense class that helped me overcome the irrational fear of hurting myself (specifically my leg). After that I decided to run a 5k.

So here is a picture from two days ago. It’s me running in the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure.

Crossing the finish line.

And the true “before and after” portion of the post: my leg, new running shoes, and timer.

This is, quite honestly, something I never thought I would do. You might notice that there are a lot of people around me who are walking. That’s because I found this race to be more difficult than I imagined, so I, too, ended up walking some of it. A lot of it actually.  But I finished! Not only that, but I finished in under an hour. 47 minutes if you’re curious. I can’t wait to sign up for another one so I can improve my time and my skills.