I just can't believe how much snow I've seen already this year! First we picked out Christmas tree out after a storm left 3-4 inches of snow on my Grandparent's farm in Virginia...
I don't even remember the last time I was in Culpeper when it snowed!
But we still had no problem finding a perfect tree!
This weekend I was going to hitch a ride with Mom and Dad back to the farm for another visit before Christmas. We hadn't gottne more than 20 minutes from their house and Grandma convinced Dad to turn around since they were calling for over a foot of snow.
We get back to Delaware, but rather then let the night go to waste we brought back an old Bartlett family tradition back and Kringled John and Steph with a Christmas tree since it seemed they wouldn't have another chance to get one. We left beer and wings too... a few of John's favorite things. :)
Today I've been watching snow fall steadily past the windows filling up the backyard and making quick work of Chris's shoveling efforts. Church was cancelled last night before the first flake even fell from the sky, and I've been enjoying an afternoon of unhurried Christmas preperations.
Yet another perfect Pepermint Christmas tree!
One picture from our front door...
...and one from as far out in the driveway I can get without being up to my knees in snow drifts.
Right around the time Chris and I got married, my grandparents sold their house in Maryland and decided to live full time on the Christmas tree farm in Virginia. It worked out great for us since it gave us a house full of furniture to pick through and fill our new home up with, however, five years later there are still things floating between family members waiting for a permanent home. My mom gave me this wall shelf when we moved claiming I had wanted it but didn't have anywhere to put it in my old house.
But I still didn't really know where to put it in the new house, so it's sat in the basement until I finally got my creative juices flowing and painted a mural down there.
Then it just made sense to use the leftover black paint, and paint the shelves too. So I sanded it down and put two good coats of black paint on it.
I cut craft paper to fit the back shelves and used modge podge to adhere them to the shelves.
Then took them outside to spray them with a coat of lacquer. It took just about the whole can for this one shelf.
Then added new hardware to the drawers and voila! I love it, and I've already got it filled with a lot of my craft supplies that were unorganized and scattered throughout my corner of the basement.
If I were in 9th grade again and going back to school a month ago, I undoubtedly would have been assigned an essay on what I did over my summer break. Fortunately I am not in 9th grade and never will be again, but I did have a most unusual summer break which I'm hoping will be ending soon, one way or another. More on that some other time. But Chris and I did go on our first week long vacation since our honeymoon and having traveled back to the Outer Banks after way too long, I'm inspired to assign myself an essay.
I know there are beautiful, exotic places across the world to visit with centuries old architecture to marvel at and different cultures to explore and be a part of, however brief. And I do hope to visit those places too someday, but I think OBX will always be one of my favorite places on earth, and for reasons no other place could compare to. As a kid we had family vacations every summer with the Bartlett's, and I'm too young to know how the location was selected but we went to Myrtle beach, Disney World, Sandbridge... basically a different place every summer; until we found Nags Head. After that first summer, we never looked anywhere else.
Here's a picture of the cousins on the beach somewhere around my junior year of high school.
My family is crazy, just like everyone else's, but we enjoy spending time with each other, and for a week we got to all be under the same roof half a block from the beach with a pool table in the basement and at least one hot tub on one of the many decks on the house. We played games and got to spend time with our cousins who we didn't see nearly as much as we would have liked to. We body surfed with my Dad and shopped at the outlets and the Christmas shops with my Mom. We stayed up way past normal bedtimes walking on the beach and making new friends with the other kids in the neighborhood. As we got older the tradition continued, the house got bigger so we could bring friends or significant others on the trip. It is hard to explain in words what makes it so special to me, it's such a wonderful combination of history, family, and of course, the beach.
A little over six years ago on the last family vacation to OBX, I invited my then boyfriend to join me on vacation. We arrived very early on Tuesday morning to a sleeping household and crashed so we could enjoy our first day of vacation on some sleep. As usual we were up late with everyone, playing games and having a good time, but Chris wanted to get up early the next morning to see the sunrise. Needless to say, after going to bed sometime after 2am for the second night in a row, I was not thrilled to see him at 5:30 the next morning shaking me awake so we could see the sunrise. I stumbled after him down the street towards the beach, still in my pajamas, rubbing sleep from my eyes, and wondering if this guy was crazy. But as we sat on my favorite beach, watching the sun slowly rise over the ocean, he asked me to marry him in what would have been a very romantic setting had I been awake enough to appreciate it. Watching him slip the ring on my finger however, was better then any cup of coffee I've ever had.
As we walked back to the house, we happened to look up at the street sign as we passed. The house we had rented for the week was on Engagement Hill. So of course, we took pictures. (sorry for the poor quality, it's a picture of a picture.)
Until two weeks ago, we hadn't been back since, but years ago we planned that for our five year anniversary we would rent a house and celebrate with our wedding party plus a few extras. We got an awesome house, right on the beach and I had a fabulous time. Here we are at the same sign post five years later...
High five seemed most appropriate. But we had to try the sign climb again...
Not quite as successful as the first time. ;-)
It was a great vacation, catching up with friends we don't get to see very often, as well as hanging out with family we don't see as often as we'd like. We played games, enjoyed the cozy hot tub, ran around on the beach, and of course, read while lounging on the beach or by the pool. Ironically, I was awake almost every morning for the sunrise. I have more pictures then anyone wants to see at a time, but these are a few of my favorites.
Several weeks ago I was out and about with my mom running errands and enjoying her company for the afternoon. She was getting ready for the annual crab feast and we were stopping everywhere looking for plants and decorations and any odds and ends she wanted for the party. One of the stops she insisted we make was Willy's which is a garden center, farmer's market, and so much more. If you know me at all, you know I enjoy cooking in general, but especially baking and trying new things, so when I came across these in the bulk foods section, I couldn't resist.
Cinnamon drops (or chips as I've been calling them) sent my mind spinning through the possibilities. I've never heard of these before, what would I put them in? Muffins? Snickerdoodles? Scones? I couldn't decide so they have been in my fridge waiting patiently for me to make up my mind. This week, I finally decided on scones and I have to say, it was the right choice. I love this recipe for scones which hasn't failed me yet. It calls for raisins which I've never used because, well, they're just not my favorite, but I have used craisins & lemon, chocolate chips, sprinkled raw sugar on top, dried blueberries, and now I have made them with cinnamon chips.
I'll be making them again in OBX, and I think I'm going to start stocking up on cinnamon drops to see what else I can make with these awesome little pieces of goodness. Let me know if you have any ideas!
I'm sorry if you all are sick of hearing about the seemingly never-ending saga of my feet, but there is yet another chapter which I hope, more then anyone, is the very last. I took my month of prescribed anti-inflamitories and my feet were definitely improved, but still not back to good as I had hoped and the Dr had been anticipating, so he got another call from me.
The next step was an MRI, which he had already mentioned at my last appointment, just to make sure there wasn't anything torn or worse. I'd never had one done before, so I didn't know what to expect but I brought a book with me, so I considered myself prepared. Chris was kind enough, and unsuspecting enough, to offer to take me to my 9:30pm appointment, which ended up taking almost two hours. A very long time to sit in a waiting room for them to give you your wife back! But before they could do the MRI, they ended up making me change completely into one of their snazzy paper outfits. I had to take pictures to share...
With the tie at the waist, the entire thing wasn't that bad, and it did hold everything together - and closed - pretty well.
But obviously, these gowns are made as a one-size-fits-all type of deal.
The pants were comically gigantic!
The nurses were all very sweet, letting me take my book with me; even if I could only turn pages when the MRI machine wasn't making noises; chatting with me while they switched feet, and even offered recommendations for some better books then what I was reading. I saw my Dr. a couple of days later who had the good news that the MRI was negative and all I needed was another month of the anti-inflamitories to hopefully get me back to perfect. He was even willing to take care of the toenail that was broken and falling off. Sorry, no pictures of that.
So, I'm going to be optimistic in saying this is the last of my fascitis woes and I will be moving on to new, more interesting topics. I ran almost 4 miles this morning which I'm going to say is a very good sign of healing to come.
On the heels of my last post, which I had written the bulk of a while ago, I did finally go to the Podiatrist about my feet last week. Fortunately, I got good news, they just needed time, an anti-inflamitory, and new shoes. The Doctor took one look at my Sauconys and said, these are good running shoes, but not for you.
Wait, what? As much as I love getting new shoes, I had never really put a whole lot of thought into buying new sneakers. Suddenly I was getting a whole lesson on my feet and what I have to do to be nice to them. So I left the office with a prescription as well as a list of shoes that would cushion my arch rather then support it and strict instructions to buy myself a new pair. Have I mention I like this guy?
Lots of internet research/shoe shopping later I had decided to get a pair of Asics, but not the Nimbus which had been on the Dr's list seeing as they were $120. Although they did come with the benefit of being able to call my running sneakers nimbus 3000, and were pretty cool looking to boot. But I still couldn't fathom spending so much on a pair of sneakers, especially if I had to replace them in only 6 months. So moving on I found the Asics Cumulus, which was another cushiony shoe and to my delight came in a snazzy color green. So for $60, I ordered these: Or so I thought, what I got were these:
But I have been wearing them around the house for the last couple of days and I'm liking them a lot so far. I guess I'll just have to get the green ones next time.
I think I've become a runner. I've been getting into running in the last 8 months or so thanks to a few different factors, the most influential being the awesome Zen player Chris gave me for Christmas. I love this thing, not only does it have an FM radio (take that apple!), it has lots of awesome DJ features, and my personal fav, a speaker that allows me to run and listen without dealing with the headphone wires bouncing around my neck.But this blog is about running, not cool toys.
For the most I've been active my whole life, I love soccer and will play it at any opportunity I get, especially now that I'm an adult and women or even co-ed leagues are fairly hard to come by. Besides playing club ball and high school soccer, I grew up in a great neighborhood for pick-up games and sports. We were constantly running around, rollerblading, riding bikes, and yet every fall when it was time to start running for soccer, I dreaded it. I waited till there was someone else to go with me, and even tried to clip my walkman on my shorts and then spent the whole run keeping my umbros from falling down (another reason I'm so excited about the zen). In junior high I didn't make the soccer team, so I decided to do track. I rationalized it by figuring at least I was still "playing a sport" but the only thing left for me to run was the mile. Ugh, it was torture, I can even remember, to my everlasting shame, not finishing one race. Definitely not an experience that endeared me to running.
Flash forward 16 years and I'm all I've got to motivate myself to exercise, but my choices are somewhat limited since I don't believe I would get my money's worth from a gym membership. I've memorized the Tae bo video, and laughed through a couple other videos I'm embarrassed to mention I own. We purchased a stationary bike shortly after moving into a home that had a better location for exercise equipment then Chris's side of the bed (that's where he wanted to put one at our old house). The bike is good, it does the trick, and I can watch TV, or read, or even play wii while I'm riding, but even that gets boring to me. I really never thought I was this hard to please!
Now with a brand new toy and a very mild winter, I decided to see if maybe my feelings had changed any for my old nemesis, running. Alas, it had not, well, not much anyway. The Zen provided entertainment which kept me distracted from the actual exercise, and was enough initial motivation to keep me going. I wheezed my way through the first few weeks till suddenly I started to notice that I was running further, getting less cramps, and even made myself go out on days where the weather wasn't so mild. Still, I really didn't consider myself a runner since my enjoyment came more from the sense of accomplishment, than from actually putting sneaker to pavement.
So why am I finally willing to admit it? A little over two months ago I hurt my feet. I ran 5 miles, they were sore, but then I finished the job at John's wedding where I wore fabulous 3 inch heels and then went barefoot, dancing and running around all night. My already sore arches were destroyed, and I've been struggling with them ever since; resting and stretching and icing and wearing my sneakers 24/7 and they still kept getting hurt. Sure I was frustrated that my feet were hurt and I couldn't seem to get them better on my own, but I also missed running. I didn't want to get out of the habbit I had formed, and after weeks of shortned runs at a slower pace, I long for the challenge of adding distance and the reward of shaving seconds off my best times. I like running, I enjoy the exercise, and after 28 years, I have officially become a runner.
I love to bake, but don't really get to do it very often since Chris and I are only two people and we definitely don't need to eat a whole batch of cookies or pan of brownies ourselves. However, I found a blog that makes me want to go home every day and bake something! Bakerella has the cutest ideas and I am just dying for an opportunity to make cake pops out of something.
Take a look at these!
Visit http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ to see more adorable shapes and ideas! She also takes fabulous pictures of all her goodies.
(and this on the heels of reading Erin's anti-sugar blog. I do agree we have too much sugar in our diets, but these are just the cutest things!!! I can't not make them...)
I've been pretty whiny lately, just ask Chris, but I seriously want to know what happened to spring? I used to love summer, but honsetly, show me a kid who gets summers off from school that doesn't count summer as their favorite time of the year. I'm also included in the minority of people who would rather be warm then cold. However, now that I'm an "adult" and no longer have three months of leisure time to go to the pool and rollerblade around the neighborhood, I've started to appreciate much more the beauty of spring and fall over the heat of summer.
Every winter I shiver my way through the season waiting anxiously for warmer weather and signs of new life pushing through the chilly ground. I love planting daffodil and tulip bulbs because they are the first color of spring to be seen, and I'm coveting the beautiful cherry and crabapple trees in my neighbor's yards that are shedding their delicate flowers all down my street. I'm hoping to plant one of my own this year.
However, the weather has been less then cooperative, in my opinion, and I guess I've been complaining a lot about it lately. Chris reminds me there's nothing I can do to make mother nature bend to my will, but somehow that doesn't stop me. Today is actually going to be a beautiful spring day; sunny with big puffy rolling clouds, highs in the upper 50's and breezy. But this is one day, which has followed three days of rain and chill, never really making it out of the 40's, and is to be followed by three days sweltering summer heat flirting with low 90's at times.
The bright side of all this? Next week looks like spring will be sticking around for longer then an afternoon sandwiched between unpleasantness, and Saturday will be the perfect day for a wedding. :) I really should stop complaining, if not for Chris's sanity, for my own. I am not in control of the weather, but I know who is, and it looks like He's got the important stuff covered.
This past weekend the ladies of the bridal party took Miss. Stephanie to Ocean City, MD for her bachelorette party and we all had an absolute blast! While I am not at liberty to disclose all of the events that took place; in fact I signed something that limits my descriptions of the weekend to "we just drank wine and talked about the wedding plans..."
However, as all the girls start sharing pictures there's a series from all the sets that include a lurker and seeing him keeps cuing the jaws theme music in my head. I think it's hilarious so I'm going to share this one little piece from our otherwise quiet bachelorette party ;)
Steph having a good time
But oh, what's this? (cue music...du-nuh du-nuh)
DU-NUH DU-NUH DU-NUN DU-NUH
Woah buddy! You are so not the bride, and you're not even cute...
Ok, get your hands off her, it's time for you to go. Fortunately he did leave us alone, but not until he managed to show up on every single camera we brought with us. LOL
It's so funny to walk into a room and see the cat just sprawled out in the sun... This is why I have so many pictures of her on my phone, it's usually the closest available camera.
I'm still trying to get over my need to have something really important and interesting to say before I initiate a new blog entry. I need to stop, so since no one else will tell me, I'll say it to myself...
"Kim, you're just not that interesting, stop worrying about it so much!"
There, that feels better. This is no longer my blog, it's my glorified facebook status site. Now I feel no pressure to be clever, funny, or entertaining in any way. I'm just going to be.
Today I'm a bit restless and I'm annoyed with the chill in the air as well as my lingering runny nose and the cough it's turned into.
I love Renee’s blog title from last week “It’s Monday, I should blog”. I know the feeling! I always think I should blog but I can’t think of anything to write. No household of crazy kids to report on in our lives, but we’ve been busy nonetheless so I’ll just do a random update.
The holidays were crazy and fun and basically the usual running around and visiting with family. We spent a very hectic Christmas day with my family in Delaware, tore through mountains of presents, watched a movie, feasted, and I ended the evening hanging with mom in the hot tub chatting and soaking away a stress filled month.
The Saturday after, we headed to Massachusetts to visit the DeStratis family, played new games, and enjoyed seeing how much Mitchell had grown and changed since we last saw him. We’re looking forward to visiting again as Cameron is due to arrive very soon! While there I also got to reconnect with Laura, an old college friend, for a wonderful afternoon of chatting over lunch and perusing the isles of Barnes & Noble.
Chris and I got to spend some time relaxing at home since I had taken the whole week between holidays off from work. Chris unfortunately spent a good bit of that week sick, but got to play games and still had energy to hang out with people, so it wasn’t a total bust but still stinks he wasn’t feeling well.
Elin came to visit for New Years so we invited people over, filled the basement with good friends and toasted as 2008 rolled over into 2009. She and I headed to New York the next day to meet up with Sarah, the other original 108 and the three of us spent an unhurried afternoon catching up, eating an excellent lunch and visiting the Guggenheim Then we were treated to her boyfriend’s fabulous cooking and ended the evening playing games before having to drive home.
Not everyone who wanted to could make it to the New Years Eve party so before Elin went back to the bitter cold of Minnesota, we hosted yet another get together. I love having people over to my house to hang out and I love the fact that it’s always so relaxed and laid back. I can only hope everyone who comes over feels as comfortable in my home as I do. All are welcome, I’ll make chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes!
As the last Monday in January winds to a close for me here at work, I’m marveling at how quickly a whole month has elapsed, but if January is any indication, it is going to be an awesome year. I think I’ve already had an opportunity to spend quality time with almost every person who is important to me (including the last week in December). Furthermore this year we’re looking forward to welcoming a new DeStratis baby, Cameron, who will be here before we know it. My brother will get married to a wonderful woman who is already a part of the Bartlett family in every other way. Chris and I will celebrate 5 terrific years of being married. We’re excited to share this with our wedding party “plus” who’ll help us celebrate in OBX, where Chris proposed. I’d love to say I’m going to slow down and enjoy it all, but break-neck seems to be my default speed so I’m just going to buckle in, enjoy the ride and try not to miss a thing!
