Lindz & Daryl Visit to DC 3.18 - 3.22.09

Stu's sister, Lindsey, & brother-in-law, Daryl, were able to come visit in March. They had done some touring before in DC about this same time last year, so didn't need to take in all the sights. They got out and saw a bit of the city their first day here while we had to work.

The rest of their time was pretty relaxing. The first night we gorged ourselves on some delivery from our favorite little Indian shop. The following night we found a nice Italian place in Crystal City and had our friends Trish & Dan over for dinner the next night.

Unfortunately we were a little too relaxed and didn't take any pics so this little blurb will have to do, but it was great getting to see family!

Happy St. Patty's Day! 3.17.09

Aaaahhhh, nothin like a mid-week excuse to go out and drink some good beer.

Happy St. Patty's Day to all!

This year we opted for the not so crazy time and therefore strategicially stayed away from all Irish Pubs. We met up with Mike & Carol at Cap City Brewery in Shirlington for a great Happy Hour and some delish brew.

Capitol City Brewey (www.capcitybrew.com) is one of our favorite places to go to grab some food and excellent beer. They opened in Washington DC in 1992 as the first brew pub in our nations capitol since prohibition. 17 years later they have 3 locations, one of which is convienently 2 miles away and on a bike path from our house. Needless to say it was the perfect spot to celebrate St. Patty's Day!

DC Snow Day 3.3.09

Since moving to Virgina we can't help but laugh at how people handle "snow storms" or even just the thought of getting snow. Once the first snow flake is spotted you do not want to be on the road because everyone starts to drive as though the roads are covered in ice. We find humor in that everyone rushes to the grocery store to get "storm supplies" (i.e milk, eggs, bottled water etc...). No joke! We've started asking people why they do such a thing, and their response often reflects an answer along the lines of "just in case we get snowed in." People honestly think that we may get so much snow that you will not be able to leave your home and they will run out of food/water.

In our 2 winters here it has probably snowed at most 5 times each winter. Most of which melts by the next day, but that doesn't keep schools and employers from shutting down for at least a couple of days. This winter we were lucky enough to get one snow fall that lasted a couple of days. Not enough that it should have warranted 2-days of of work (for Jill) but no complaints about that part! Here are some pics from when Jill got into the city for some snowy DC shots on one of the days off of work.

Jilly's Pottery Classes 2.17.09

One of my (Jill) 2009 goals was to use creative outlets, so I decided to sign myself up for a pottery class through Arlington County. I was pretty apprehensive considering the last time I sat behind a wheel to throw was in High School. On my first night of class I thankfully found out that my small class consisted of newbies, some who have never touched clay before, and others who are quite seasoned. I also quickly found out, due to my U of M sweatshirt that my instructor graduated from the University of Minnesota as well, small world! He took the long road to become an artist and pottery instructor, and is now quite the artist. His name is Jason Alexander, he has a local business of his work. Check out some of his website (and work) at http://www.alexanderclayworks.com/

I can only hope that one day I will be able to create pieces as great as his. Right now my goal is to create functional pieces, bowls, plates, and mugs.... Hopefully in a couple months I can share some pictures of my work.

Mamma & Pappa Hansen Visit to DC 2.4 - 2.9.09

It was nice having the opportunity for Alan & Jolene to come visit. They were able to make it out for a nice long weekend. Since they've both done quite a bit of site seeing in DC, the only touristy thing on the agenda was a tour of the capitol building.

Stu had Friday off and took his parents around the Clarendon area for a bit of shopping, errands, lunch and note taking on possible new woodworking projects from Pier 1.

The rest of our weekend together was spent buying & eating food & wine... which is just what the docter ordered. The weather was great so lunch & happy hour on our deck was quite a treat in February. Alan made sure all had plenty of spice in a shrimp dish with excessive chipotle & adobo. A couple of nice meals out as well, just to mix things up. We were able to introduce Alan & Jolene to our favorite hole-in-the-wall Indian for take-out.


It was an aggressive schedule with some tirps to the dog-park, coffee sipping out in front of the Shirlington Library, re-stocking at Harris Teeter along with some other shopping in Pentagon City. All in all a very good visit, we're hoping to have them out once more this year in the fall sometime.

Brock Needham! 2.2.09

This morning I (Jill) got the following text from my dear friend Erin Needham, who I call Dunst (her maiden name).

Text: 11:30am "Having a baby today, we'll let you know then we know more :) doctors are very positive about everything."

Considering she was pregnant this wouldn't have been an alarming message other than she wasn't due until March 22nd!! Turns out that 'baby' was ready to come out, so they went forward with the delivery. After a long day Erin finally gave birth to a HEALTHY baby boy weighing it at 4lbs 11oz and 17 1/2 inches long. Happy Birthday Brock Allen, welcome to the world and Congratualtions Mama and Papa Nedham!!!

Coffee Shop 1.25.09

This morning we met up with our friend's Chris & Susan at a local coffee shop The Java Shack. Jill first learned about this coffee shop through a local listing of "green businesses" and wanted to see what it was all about. We often dream of the coffee shop that we wish to own someday and definitely wanted to check this out for inspiration. The Java Shack runs off of 100% wind power, which we have our gripes about b/c that just means they buy the wind energy they do not have wind generators on their building. This of course is noted for our own coffee shop.

The other many wonderful things that the Java Shack implemented in order to be considered a "green business" is as follows:

• only use 100% Biodegradable/Compostable hot & cold cups


• only use Locally Roasted, 100% organic, Fair Trade/Rain Forest Alliance coffee


• only use organic soy milk


• use organic syrups,


• only provide reusable water glasses


• only use 100% Recycled napkins, 80% post-consumer materials


• only use CFL light bulbs inside & outside


• strongly encourage travel mugs for takeout orders


• strongly encourage ceramic cups for drinking there


• do not print receipts, unless requested


• implemented a comprehensive recycling program, reducing trash by 80%


• save all coffee/espresso grounds for high energy fire log production


• only use 100% recycled, unbleached hand towels


• use an Energy Star High-efficiency ice machine


• switched to a 1/2 gpm flow HAND SINK vs. the typical 2 - 2.5 gpm flow.

So as you can see it comes with all the bells and whistles in terms of Green-ness. Surprisingly the place didn't come off as a "top of the charts" place and was rather cramped and looked a bit worn down. However it just added to the character and made us note that we want a big spacious coffee shop, which by the way is hard to come by in Clarendon so we understood why it was small. So, we just took it for what it was and enjoyed some tasty coffee among good company.

Obama Inauguration 1.20.09

What our luck, the time had finally come for this country to get a new, liberal AND INTELLIGENT president & we were lucky enough to find tickets!?! One of Jill's co-workers is married to an assistant to a Senator who supports the opposite mascot as our president, and so had extra tickets.

We were both up and ready in our winter gear, long johns & all knowing it was going to be cold, windy, possibly rainy and left the house before six in the morning... But we should have left sooner...

Of course, being such the historic day as it was, we were not the only ones who wanted to see the inauguration our new President of Hope. Once the delayed Metro train got us to our L'Enfant Plaza destination and the packed train car slowly emptied, we arrived in the station only to wait for another 45 minutes just to get out of the packed Metro station!

After finally exiting the Metro station & winding our way down a few blocks we found the mall area to be not much better. It is no exageration when you hear millions of people were there to take part in the ceremony. At one point, as we were trying to make our way to the blue ticket holder entrance (since Jill scored us blue tickets), there was a point when trying to cross a crowded street when Jill had trouble breathing and her feet were actually being lifted from the pavement because we were being pushed so hard from all sides.

For all the planning and organization that went into this thing it actually was quite horribly executed. I think heavy numbers were anticipated, but not to the extent that people turned out. Anyway, after four to five hours had passed since we left our house, we made the three or so mile journey to our final destination, front & center!

The tickets weren't actually for seats, but the very first standing room just beyond the seats, so still a decent view compared to those watching a jumbo-tron back by the Washington Monument a half-mile away. Once Jill got setup, perched on a pile of wood-chip mulch so she could peak over the half a dozen or so rows of people in front of us, we were good to go.

Even though there was an annoyingly huge TV-camera stand right in front of the central podium for all the viewers at home, our view was still impressive.

Sadly one of our favorite parts was hearing the negative response to the announcement of Bush. Surely not the fondest of fairwells. Our video (below) does not do it justice the affect of 1 million people booing in unison.

After all the festivities were over, it was another crazy feet to get out of DC. Metro had closed all stops immediately off of the mall to avoid too many overcrowding. Since there aren't too many walking paths out of the District either, DC police opend up a number of the major highways so we chose I395 as our south-bound exit. It was crazy walking with a loads of people over a four & five lane highway out of town. After a couple hour walk home we found our exit and were very happy to kick our feet up after a long day on our feet.

GOOOBAMA!!!

Holiday Road-trip 1.3.09

We wanted to make it back for a nice, long, two-week stay with family & friends for Christmas & New Years, so we loaded up the Road Warrior (Prius) with plenty of gear, skis, snowboard & Harvey and headed out at 10:00pm on the Wednesday before Christmas for the 16 hour drive west.

With our back seats folded down, luggage packed behind the front seats & dog bed, pillows & blankets layed out it was a comfy ride for Harvey & whoever wasn't doing the driving.

With two weeks off, we were able to spend plenty of time with both sides of the family as well as friends from school. We spent Christmas in Wausau with the Wiemans, then headed to Rochester to celebrate with the Hansens. Jill was able to sneak away to LaCrosse to see some of her girls as well. Then it was up to Jimmy & Jen's in Eagen for a couple days around New Year's Eve.

Our time spent in Wausau was great. Plenty of playing in the snow with Trevahn & Harvey. Our dog loved the snow so much we didn't think he would ever want to come in & actually ran off a few times which was a bit scary, but he's a good boy and always made it back (even if it took the neighbor loading him into his truck and returning him!). Spending time with baby Eliahs was great too. We were actually back for Trevahn & Eliahs' baptism as well as witnessing Chad & Kerrie get engage which were both a convenient blessing.

We were able to put Jill's new skis to use, getting in one good night with Kerrie, Chad & Vonnie at Granite Peak in Wausau which we've been meaning to hit for some time...

In Rochester we were able to spend a good amount of time with the family and play with Lily who had grown bigger & cuter since we last saw her a few months ago. Hanging at Alan & Jolene's is always relaxing which is just what we needed over our extended vacation. Harvey missed the wide openness of Wausau, but made out just fine here too. Stuart's parents also threw a rather large holiday get-together with extended family on both sides and all sorts of friends & family-friends. It was an extremely busy night -- a little over-stimulating for Harvey & Brody who just layed in front of the buffet line -- but getting to catch up and celebrate the season with all sorts of family and friends was so much fun.

Heading up to the cities before the new year we were able to spend some time with our good friends at Jimmy & Jen's place... even more relaxing & catching up. New Year's Eve day we spent skiing with Jimmy, Jen, Nick and Christine at Afton Alps outside of the cities. It was great weather and a fun way to round out the year.

We didn't hit the slopes too aggresively spending a bit of time at the chalet so we could save some energy for evening festivities.

Jimmy & Jen had a good number of people over to bring in the new year, accompanied by probably 8 dogs over 60lbs so was a very exciting and wild time.

After such an action packed holiday break we had to load up the Prius yet again and make the long trek back. What should have taken about 16 hours ended up taking over 20 with weather issues getting out of Wisconsin, but we made it back safe & sound and with little ambition for such a long car ride agian. Although we get to bring Harvey, our future trips home will most likely all be by plane.

Welcome!!!

Hello all & welcome to our blog.
We've come to realize that we have slipped a bit in regards to keeping friends/family up to date on our lives as well as staying up to snuff on picture sharing. We have lived in DC for almost 3 years now and through out those years we have often wished we could share all of our experiences with friends & family from back home whether it be a tourist spot or a new delicious recipe.

Most of you know that where ever we go at least one of our cameras is with us.... and we are often 'snap happy' so we literally have thousands of pictures that have gone unshared. We decided to take our chances with this whole blog thing as a fun way to share our adventures so to speak with all of you, including backblogging through the 1st of the year. Oh and by now most of you also know that we are pretty obsessed with our dog Harvey, so he often is included in most of our adventures as well. Cheers!