Alexandria and the Art Factory

I (Kelsey) am trying a new thing where I go with the flow and am flexible with plans;), so while we knew we were hanging out with both Shannan and David and Kelly and Alex this weekend, I made an increased effort to not need to schedule things or need to know details in advance, and (as is always the case with irony), I think things ended up better than I could have planned.

On Saturday we met up with David and Shannan for brunch at one of our favorite brunch spots in Del Ray, Stomping Ground (aka biscuit heaven). Then we drive to Alexandria to walk around the waterfront and Old Town. Maybe it was the weather or the fact that I'd never explored this area of Alexandria, but it was just a perfect outing. Mike brought his camera to capture it. (The big pictures are the ones he took.)

Playing the game where you try to guess the cost of the house. Such a fun game in this area haha!

Pic I took of the water. I did use an Instagram filter though.

Trying to capture the sunshine!

Showing David and Shannan my Instagram pictures of the water.

Then we went to the Torpedo factory which is basically an artistic/creative sanctuary in downtown Alexandria, where local artists display their works. Might be my new favorite Nova art retreat!

A display an artist set up in light of the Paris attacks. 

I love this picture that Mike took and how this building was re-purposed for creativity.

After the torpedo factory, we spotted a Trader Joe's on the walk back to the car, and randomly decided it was a great time to go grocery shopping. Of course, Mike and I cannot grocery shop like normal people, so we carried 3 heavy bags back to the car, but we've determined that if friends can grocery shop with us and still be friends with us after, they are friends for life. 

When we got back to the house, we watched some of the Bond movies Josh and Ross were marathoning and then saw the new Bond movie with them that evening. Reviews of it have been a little disappointed, but Mike and I really enjoyed it....even though it's hard for us to stay up past 9pm these days.

On Sunday, we went for a run outside in the morning and Mike picked up some garam masala to make chicken tikka masala. In the afternoon, we participated in a Google Hangout with the Barons/SBs, because Jake and Marilyn are in London and all of us are spread out. It was so good to see everyone!

Later that evening, we headed over to Kelly and Alex's to watch The Walking Dead.

It felt good just to spend a weekend hanging out with friends, enjoying the sunshines, seeing art, and not worrying about anything on the To Do list.

Red Wine Tasting Party and Ashton Turns 2

Last night, Mike and I were up late catching up on Rachel's blog and taking turns laughing at her hilarious stories and sarcasm. We cannot wait to get over there in next April and just recently finalized our dates for the trip: April 7th-17th. It will be my first time in Europe and when I mentioned this to one of my (apparently well-traveled) students recently, he spent about 15 minutes giving me recommendations on experience I needed to have while abroad.

I know next Spring will be here before we know it, because we're staying busy on the weekends and trying to savor some special moments at home. 

This past Saturday, we got together with one of my coworkers who happens to live a 10 minute walk from us. She invited us for a very grown-up wine tasting with plenty of food, games, and...a dog! The dog ended up laying on Mike's lap even though she "doesn't like guys that much" and now he really wants one. My coworker has promised to convince me of how much work dogs are, though. 

Sunday we ended up going home for this guy's birthday!

The big two-year-old in his fire truck pajamas (that we got him) and his new cleaning toys (since he always takes Courtney's real cleaning supplies).

Mike going through the Peanut character with Ashton. Obviously, he knows all of them.

Courtney did the BEST job organizing a Charlie-Brown themed party. I mean...there's just no way I would be able to put this much effort into anything....but Ashton really appreciated being surrounded by his favorite characters all day.

Ashton playing with his tennis racket that my mom and Rick got him.

I have no clue what's going on in this picture.

He's such a good sharer with his friend Kenley! (Also: no one really wanted to play with Franklin when Snoopy was around. I felt bad for him.)

This is where I took his hat because I was being the super hilarious auntie that I am. 

And then that time Ashton and I had too much fun trying to communicate through a glass door. 

Mom and dad and the Charlie Brown cake that Courtney made.

Mike had two coworkers who were promoted this past week at Robert E. Lee's house, which has a view of the Washington monument. Perks of being promoted in DC. All I can think of is "Soon, all this will be yours." Mike will get his turn in February.

Job Updates: 

Mike started his Command Services rotation which means (and this is the Kelsey-translation) that he does a lot of administrative legal things and one of those things reviewing rules about important things at his base. This can mean traffic and parking codes.

I've been loving my 'new job' that I'm officially about 4 months into. It's challenging, busy, and I learn new stuff every day, but I feel like it is the perfect blend of teaching, counseling, and strategic big picture thinking. Last week, I got to teach two freshman classes back-to-back about career development and this week I had a student I directly helped tell me that he got his dream internship with the American Red Cross. 

Veteran's Day is tomorrow and Mike gets the day off, although I don't. His plans are mostly to play around with finances, probably make waffles, and then go to a show in the evening.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Hello November

One of our neighbors puts up inflatable decorations for every holiday. This includes holidays like Arbor Day. He has a glorious mustache and no discernible reason for putting up these inflatables, but he does it anyway. One day we would like to be that house, but for now we lack both the inflatables and the space to store them.

The Pumpkin-Skeletons Dance, Too

Things finally got cold up here and we pulled out our winter clothes. Our favorite spots have also started to welcome the new(ish) season:

Leaves on our old running path...

Our friend Joe turning everything into a pumpkin...

The Stomping Ground shoving Nutella into pastries...

So that has been good. And our jobs have been good. Mine (Mike's) got considerably easier after finishing the first of my four required rotations. Kelsey's has also been good. She is interacting with students and making them cry, but in a good way, which is sort of her favorite thing to do.

Kelsey's office setup.

Last week was Halloween, so we went to Absi's place for her annual Halloweentown party and watched the traditional terrible/great Disney movie from so many years ago. Before the party, Josh, Kelsey, and I went to our first official (Midsummer was a freebie) Shakespeare Theater show of the season: Salome.... A new version of Salome.... In which Salome is a political rebel and her mother isn't even a character in the show. 

The cookie was delicious. The show was... not as bad as we thought it would be, given the high-art nature of it all.

November 1st Kelsey and I woke up bright and early to run a 10k for no real reason. We had signed up for it last year and then forgotten about it, but the nice people who run the race (in the business sense) let us transfer our registration to this year. We almost forgot about it again, but we wanted our free race t-shirts and medals.

It was a bit rainy...

But we made it!

That's it for now. Lots of little trips coming up as we move into holiday season, and we're excited to be able to spend a little more time with our friends and families!

NC, Fall Fun, Trials Week

Two weekends ago, Mike and I went to North Carolina to visit with his family. 

When Mike picked me up at work, we couldn't resist starting off the trip with Captain Cookie! He has a storefront one block away from me. I got ginger molasses with pumpkin ice cream and Mike got ginger molasses and funfetti with black cherry ice cream.

Traffic was horrible on 95, but Mike was a champ driving and we made it to Raleigh in time for dinner with Leslie. I was still feeling a little ill with a sore throat (Mike and I had been sick the whole week prior), so I opted for a ginger martini at dinner and spicy Thai soup. 

Saturday morning Leslie and I did a Pilates class together that was offered by her apartment building! I didn't realize how much I'd been neglecting my stretching and yoga! It was hard but a great way to start the morning. Plus, mike got to sleep in.

We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday morning in Burlington with Ween, Daddy Jim, and Jim. Leslie ate lunch with us on Saturday. I should have taken more pictures of Ween's meals, but let's just say there was homemade pumpkin ice cream. No time for pictures:)

On the return trip Sunday, we stopped by Raleigh again for brunch at Tazza kitchen. I was intrigued by "bacon butter".

Huevos rancheros for Leslie and me. Mike got his usual:)

Rupert was SO happy when we finally made it home! He spent some time re-claiming Mike's lap as his spot.

This past weekend, Rupert had to go to the vet on Saturday morning for his rabies shot, and then we had a "Fall party" on Saturday night watching scary movies and making things with apples other people picked. 

So there is a video circulating online about how to make these rose apple pastries. Steph was the mastermind, but I can actually say I assembled about half under her supervision. They are the best, and I can't wait to make them again on my own!

Mike has gotten really good at making cast iron skillet pizzas. He even put spinach in this one for me❤️

This week is a big one for Mike. He has a trial that should be finished by the end of it, and then he'll be moving on to his next rotation in "internships" (command services). This is all my understanding of it so I'm sure I'm getting it wrong. What this means is he's working late a lot and we don't know yet if we'll be able to travel to Williamsburg for our Hallowscream vacation at Busch Gardens this upcoming weekend. Hopefully we will!

Ships Move

I am not on a carrier right now. I was supposed to be on one for the week, but as our CO told us, "this is a good lesson in the Navy. Stuff happens and ships move." "Stuff happens" may or may not be a loose paraphrase of the actual phrase he used. We are in the Navy, after all.

In addition to ships, we also move. The Sunday before this past Sunday Kelsey and I (and most of my command) ran a half marathon. 

It went well!

There was some collateral damage.

Some other junior officers from my office.

That Monday I had permission to skip work and hang out with an honor flight coming from Indiana. All of the veterans on the flight fought in Vietnam and most had never seen their memorial. They all made fun of us for being staff officers, which was fair coming from them. They seemed to appreciate having folks in uniform to accompany them. The random tourists at the monuments also seemed to be blinded and dazzled by the summer whites to the point that, for perhaps the first time in my life, I had to say "one more person and then no more pictures." 

In another work outing, last Friday we got to put on our civilian clothes and take a tour of the Naval Academy. It was the most beautiful college campus where students aren't allowed to enjoy themselves that I've ever seen. Highlights included watching the lunch formation, which included a bagpipe procession to the tune of the theme from Top Gun. Well done, pipers.

The pipers get a place of honor in the center, as it should be.

More importantly, last weekend we were able to meet up with Courtney and Ashton and Melissa. There will be lots of times that I can be on a ship, but Ashton will not be this cute forever, so that's a fair trade.

And Ashton understands the import of the season.

Pictures and Marathon Tracking

If you are awake on Sunday morning and terribly concerned with what Kelsey and I are up to, you can go to http://results.xacte.com/track/?id=843 and ask for updates. My number is 3030 and Kels's is 3025. I have no idea how many times you will be updated as we run if you sign up for these updates. 

I took some pictures over Labor Day weekend while Beau and Jen were in town for Jen's sister's wedding. 

Rooting for the flytraps to eat the bees. They did not. They tried but were not strong enough.

On our way to the art museum.

Kelsey, ashamed at having gotten lost in the art museum.

Beau in the Air and Space Museum looking at Apollo stuff.

More later- I mostly wanted people to have the running tracker if they wanted it.

Tapering

Tapering is when you decrease mileage leading up to your race to conserve energy, minimize chance of injury, and give your legs a break. Apparently serious runners get really antsy during tapering, but I'm over here thankful for a little break;) 

The humidity in DC has been persistent with some gorgeous days here and there. It is definitely still summer, but I'm hoping we get a little more of a season change leading up to the 20th. It's already darker in the morning on our walks to the bus and, although that makes me a little sad and feel like winter is coming too quickly, we have to pass through my favorite season first: Fall❤️

I am also glad that we have a little bit of summer left. I have gotten to a lot of the things I wanted to achieve and experience, but my priority has been adjusting to the new job, so I haven't yet made it to a farmer's market (although Kay and Brian did give us some delicious garden veggies!), outdoor yoga, hiking, or kayaking. I think we're going to save hiking for the Fall when Mike can capture the colors with his camera and kayaking may have to wait for next summer. I recently downloaded a yoga app that I can project to our AppleTV, so that has made it really easy to get in some yoga time!

We did manage to fit a lot in this weekend. We saw Beau and Jen while they were in town for a wedding and took them to Tortilla Coast and museums (my legs were so dead from a 10 mile run that morning that I ended up sitting a lot:/). I also got tea with Kay and Absi on Saturday and it was everything I wanted! Some more pictures from the week are below!

After our 10 mile run!

Air and Space museum with Beau and Jen!

Mike and Beau!

Happy Hour at Tazza Kitchen after a hard week. This was peach carbonara pasta and it was to die for!

One Friday evening, I had some of Mikes scotch in a wine glass. I hope Daddy Jim will forgive me.

Delicious  "Afternoon Tea" with Kay and Absi!

This is my failed attempt of a picture of my favorite coffee at Whole Foods that I sometimes get in the morning. It has high body and low acidity. I can't tolerate acidic coffee very well, so this is about as close to Papa Buck's coffee as I could get:)

Remember Mikes friend Kirk who owns the cookie food truck? Well, he has a storefront right near my new work, and sometimes we use him for events, etc. he's extremely popular. Last week, we had an event called "Careers and Cookies" and I got to take this guy back to my cubicle: Ginger molasses cookies with vanilla ice cream. So yum!

One of my coworkers and her daughter decorated all of our cubicles with balloons on the first day of school!

And because I'm sure you all are wondering how Ashton is doing...

He is loving life!

Here is one of his "Fall" daycare pictures! So sweet and what an incredible daycare. He turns 2 in November and has Courtney has already planned an indoor pool party with a Charlie Brown/Peanuts theme!