Chinese Medecine Class 4.27.09

While looking for classes to take through Arlington County I noticed a free Chinese Medicine class being offered. Stu and I decided to check it out and ended up learning quite a bit. Each week the instructor, who is an acupuncturist and owns her own business (www.heavenlybodiesclinic.com) covered different aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). We learned about Qi, meridians, acupuncture, meridian exercise, food (5 flavor concepts in TCM cooking) and much more.

On the 2nd class she gave each student a GuaSha (pronounced Gwa-sah) treatment which consists of lightly rubbing a tool (which she uses a jar top) over oiled skin in areas where you feel pain. The idea is that it brings all of the pooled blood (which is causing the pain due to the meridian being blocked) to the surface of the skin, which allows the Qi to flow again. I tend to hold all of my stress in my neck/shoulders, so she GuaSha that area on me. I left class looking like Stu had taken a belt sander to my neck and shoulders.... That area was bright red and looked bridued/bleeding. The actual skin did not hurt, just felt a little warm. My skin stayed like this for about 3-4 days, fading each day until it was gone. I didn't feel much different after the treatment, but she did say that this is something that needs to be done consistently in order to reap the benefits.

Canoeing & Camping Overnighter 4.25.09

Friday the 24th of April we decided on a whim to look up canoeing rentals in the area to do a night of camping on Saturday. We found a nice outfitter just outside of Fredericksburg who set us up just up on a smaller stream that leads into the Rapahanock. We were a little nervous about getting Harvey into a canoe, but figured he'd have to learn sometime if he wants make a Boundary Waters trip at some point in his life.

With a lot of persuasion and a little tugging, we were able to get him into the canoe before we shoved off. The entire canoe had barely entered the water before he decided this was not for him and bailed, thankfully not, but nearly taking us down with him. The outfitter had said that there was a great chance that in the 11-12 hours (IS THAT RIGHT??? MORE LIKE 7???) of canoeing that we had coming over our two days, that Harvey would tip us at some point. Thankful to have avoided this before our first stroke of the paddle, we were happy to just let him swim down stream beside us.

Harvey was plenty comfortable in the water, but it wasn't long till we hit a couple rapid points and he began to get visibly tired, so we pulled over on a sandy point where he hoped in having learned that the free ride the canoe offers is worth the unstable feeling. Rapids & rock scraps would come along which would get him all nervously looking & moving about, but he was quick to learn that the more he moved, the shakier the ride got. For the most part he was really well behaved in the canoe and we are glad to report, didn't tip us once!

The trip went very smooth, we stopped for some lunch on a nice sandy camping spot just on the river. There was debate of camping the night in this spot, but we weren't going to make that decision until we had a nap in the hammock. After about 30 minutes of rest Harvey decided a goose in the river was too alien not to investigate, so he began swimming down stream after him. Instead of flying away, the goose just flitted out of range for Harvey, antagonizing him even more. Once he'd gotten about 100 yards down stream, we flew into the canoe and pursued the dog. It wasn't until covering a couple rapids and at least a half mile that we caught up with Harvey and got him back in the boat. Unfortunately we could not canoe back to our spot where all our stuff was, so we were forced to ditch the canoe at a new spot and hike back through thick, tic infested woods, Jill without shoes, to retrieve our stuff.

We ended up at a better site, so couldn't stay mad at our crazy dog too long, enjoyed a night out doors and at least came away with a good story. The rest of the stay went without a hitch. The next day H enjoyed several dips but stuck close and enjoyed the ride. We think a canoe is something we may want to own someday.

Earthday Concert 4.19.09

In honor of earth day we headed into DC for the Earth Day concert and celebration and met up with some friends.

It was a fun filled day with Chevy Chase as the MC and a line up of Black Strings, Los Lobos, MOE, and The Flaming Lips. It was quite a fun experience and we felt as though we were back at Harmony Park, but had the Capitol as a back drop in stead. We packed a picnic lunch and spent the entire day looking at the capitol and listening to good music.

After the concert we headed to The Dairy Godmother which is a little ice cream shop not far from our house in Del Ray. The owner is a Wisconsin native who opened up her frozen custard shop in 2001. We enjoy her frozen custard but really love that she has special "pup treats" which is ice cream for dogs. She operates similar to Culver's and rotates through flavors every couple of days, often having themed flavors for Holidays and such. On this specific day she was having a brat fry, so we had to go! Judging by the number of people that filled her place, Northern Virgina needs to host brat frys more often! We waited in line for at least 30 minutes, which was okay because like a true Wisconsin native she had accordion player playing polka-ish type music for us to enjoy. We filled up on ice cream and brats with all the fix 'ums! It was a treat to enjoy brats with friends from Florida who did not grow up on brats like I did. Mmmmmmmmm brats!

Mamma Randa Visit to DC 4.10 - 4.13.09

Jill's mom, Randa, came to visit for a long weekend in April. Jill had found cheap airfare online so her dad, Kurt, purchesed her tickets as a surprise. We really lucked out while she was here with some great weather. Randa had been here a couple of times so didn't have much touring she wanted to do. However we did have some great outings to the US Botanic Gardens and the National Arboretum. Both were equally impressive.

The Botanic Gardens are in the green house of our dreams right off the National Mall by the Senate building and the Native American Museum. This place is large enough that is has an actual rainforest inside with a second level platform so you can walk around and see all the plants from higher up.

An impressive orchid room -

Food & medicinal herb gardens -

We were definately taking mental notes on what we think we could pull off in a cooler MN/WI climate if we had a green house.

D&T Andrist's Visit 4.1 - 4.5.09

Two weeks after Lindsey & Daryl were here, our good friends from home, Dustin & Tara Andrist, were able to visit in early April. Unfortunately for both of us, there was no excape from work for their first day visit, but Stuart was able to tour around DC with them on their second day taking in a lot of the mall as well as the Museum of Natural History. Jill tried to meet up for a tour of the Botanical Garden, but with a 6:00 closing time, it was too late, so we headed to Brickskeller in Dupont Circle for some drinks before returning ho me.

The following day, after a late brunch at the Silver Diner in Clarendon we headed to Georgetown and window-shopped. Always a little overstimulating, it's still fun to bring guests there and just pretend we're well off enough to shop and or live in that area. We did, however, splurge on some killer cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake renowned for the best cupcakes made with premium ingredients. In the words of Dustin, "A cupcake is a cupcake, but that shit was goood!" ... The Hansen's agree Dust

After leaving Georgetown we walked along the river down to the Tidal Basin area. Dust & Tara were lucky enough to be here during all the Cherry Blossom festivities. All the beautiful trees were in full bloom, which meant the crowds to see them were also on full patrol. A number of times we commented on how great of pictures you could get, if you could just have the whole place to yourself. Soo many trees, but soooo many people, getting a good shot was a rare thing in deed.

That night after a long day of walking, around Clarendon, from Rosyln across the bridge to & thru G-town, along the river & Tidal Basin through cherry tree central, we were tuckered so just grilled up some yummies, watched some college B-ball & played Wii. It's always great having good friends come to visit!