lots of travelin' to do

I drove to West Chester to meet up with Ms. Nat and Baby E. So good to see them since our move from Dayton! Baby E is such a genius, he was holding his own bottle and he is only 6 weeks old.

Then I had to fly to South Carolina for a training class. I also had to drive to Florida for a quick visit to the Florida Department of Highway and Motor Vehicle Safety to get my new driver license, vehicle and voter registration with my new married name!!

The quick trip to Florida did give me a chance to have dinner with Amy K. This is us sharing a mojito... hmmmm.

Then I drove back up to SC, stopping in Savannah to have lunch and frozen yogurt with Sarah J. This is her office... see how busy she is :)

Then it was finally back in Columbia and we all went to the deli my bro works at for dinner. Watching him risk his life using the deli slicer made my heart stop :)

Back to NJ on Friday and then a quick trip to DC and then to San Francisco on Sunday!

Cheers!

Mary

another rainy sunday

It was a beautiful Saturday at Citi field as Bryan and I watched the Mets beat up on the poor Braves :( and :) depending on your allegiance. We also ate a lot of food... a lot.

Not where our seats were but we did a lot of walking around... a lot.


Dana ran a half marathon on Sunday morning... it was 50 degrees... and raining... a lot. We picked up some starbucks on the way to Central Park and walked about 3 miles cheering her on.

Meaghan and me with our hero, Dana!! We love her... a lot.

Cheers!

Mary

... and I still have so much left

On Sunday, I packed up Bryan's jeep with 9 bags of clothing and just as many paper bags full of things to donate to Goodwill. It took me a little while to go through my apartment and sort through what I wanted to take and what I wanted to give away. It felt really good to part with so much stuff I don't use or don't wear anymore... some of which I haven't touched since I moved to New Jersey, nearly 3 and half years ago.

Bryan and my mom were up visiting and helping to care for me after I had my latest nerve block injection under my right should blade. This procedure went sooo much better than last year. I was in and out in about 3 hours, compared to the 7 hours of misery I spent there last year. However, last year because of my issue I left all drugged up on Morphine and couldn't feel anything for a while. This year, I left with no drugs, so I had a lot of residual pain from the procedure itself, but it has decreased dramatically so I think i'll be ok. I have also been seeing a physical therapy who has helped a lot and has me on a more of long term plan for pain relief. Thanks so much to Bryan and my mom for dealing with my whining. I love you both!!

Cheers!
Mary

a night in Italy and other deliciousness

We recently joined Chris and Kristen at a wonderful event called Fashion 4 Paws which benefits the Washington Humane Society. It is held every year at the Italian Embassy (hence our last minute trip to Italy). The top fundraisers walk in a fashion show with dogs up for adoption. So cute!! As we were walking up to the Embassy, a stranger (i know, i know, stranger danger) walked up to us and handed two bands to Bryan and I and said the bands would get us in to the VIP area. Score! What is it with strangers walking up to us and giving us passes?! Either way, Kristen and I strategized that Bryan and I would enter the VIP area, sit for the show and then bring back food and gift bags to Kristen and Chris... which worked out beautifully.




The four of us also went to a place called Commissary near Logan Circle. They have to die for strawberry mint sangria and something called cheeseburger spring rolls which I have to try the next time I go there!! Bryan was challenge to eat the Reeses Pieces Sundae. Knowing Bryan, he did not shy away from this challenge...

In case you can't read the iPhone timer, that says 4 minutes and 16 seconds for my dear husband to clean out that sundae bowl... don't act like you're not impressed :)

More fun to come!

Cheers!

Mary

the quintessential Washington weekend

It's official! We live in Washington, DC (ok, well not technically, but still inside the beltway) :)

We moved in all of Bryan's stuff and have bought some furniture, but it is still a process as we are moving my stuff down little by little hoping to be finished by the time I leave for my deployment.

We spent our first weekend doing some pretty touristy things. First, we joined Chris and Kristen on the National Mall for the Cherry Blossom Festival. We walked all the way around the tidal basin enjoying the beautiful trees. It was such an amazing day!

Kristen and me with Paddles, the mascot of the Cherry Blossom Festival

(Paddles says, please don't pick the blooms)

After the festival we walked a long, long, long, long (seriously, it was long) way to meet up with more friends to go to the Nationals v Red Sox last spring training game.

It was a perfect spring day (and I had the sunburn to prove it)

(pictures from the festival and baseball courtesy of Chris Anderson)

On Sunday, Bryan and I went to National Cathedral for Easter Sunday service. It was an incredible experience. You have to get passes to get into the service. When I called, I was told to go to the Episcopal Church House to get passes (just to the right of the Cathedral). He says, "Look for the red door." Ha, as I know from being raised Episcopalian, all the doors are red!! Needless to say, it was a mad house there on Sunday morning more than an hour before the service was set to start. I was walking to get out place in line and knew I needed to find the red door to get our passes- I thought there wasn't any way we would get in, there were sooo many people. I walked up to a man who was walking in my direction and asked him where he had gotten his passes. He asked me how many I needed and I said that I needed two. He then handed his passes to me and said, "here, take these". I couldn't beleive it, I was so happy, I asked him if he was sure and he was. Truly a blessing!!

The service was perfect, all the great Easter hymns that I have sung my whole life... they even had gluten-free wafers at Communion for (as Bryan calls them) the wheat-conscious :)

It was a whirlwind weekend, but the perfect way to start out time here!!

Cheers!

Mary

last trip to Dayton part II

After graduation Bryan and I went out to dinner with The Gheeslings. It was really late, at least for us old folks. It was great to spend time with them! As we left the restaurant it was snowing!! At the end of March! These were the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen. When we got back to the house we took pictures in Bryan's driveway.

Bryan and me with the snow!

Us with The Gheeslings!

On Saturday I helped Julie set up for Hank's first birthday party. His actual birthday is in April, but I was so happy she decided to have a party for him in Dayton before we all moved our separate ways. It was the cutest baseball themed party and Hank had a blast, especially with the tissue paper. I'll post pics as soon as Julie does ;)

On Sunday we met up with our AFIT family again for one final brunch at the Wright-Patterson club. This trip was so amazing because we got to meet Baby Elliott for the first time! That precious little boy is only two weeks old in the photos below...

Bryan trying not to break Baby E


Me getting to stare at The Herr's beautiful little boy!

Our AFIT family was amazing and we wish them all the best of luck at their next stations and hope we cross paths again!!

Cheers!

Mary

last trip to Dayton part I

On March 25th, Bryan graduated from the Air Force Institute of Technology with a Masters of Science in Space Systems and we are so proud of him!! His parents came up from Florida to celebrate with us and to help us move him out of his house in Dayton to get ready for the move to Washington DC!

The graduation set-up at the Air Force Museum on Wright-Patterson AFB

Our absolutely amazing AFIT family (minus baby Hank). So sad to leave them...

Bryan and me after he graduated

Bryan and me and his parents

More to come from my last trip to Dayton

Cheers!

Mary