Updates

Updates

We wish you a Merry Christmas…

January 8, 2010 in Family, Travel, Updates by melissa | 1 comment

…and a Happy New Year!

Okay, so this post is a little late, but at least I’m getting pictures from Christmas and New Years up on the site. If you head on over to the 2009 Holiday Gallery, you’ll see three sets of pictures. The first is us (me, really) decorating our small, crooked, table top tree. His name was Gil and he was very cute!

The second set is from our trip to Midland, MI to see Chad’s parents (and other family) for Christmas. I would just like to share that when we left Virginia on the 23rd, there was more snow on the ground than we had landing in Michigan. And then it had to go and rain on Christmas! In Michigan! So much for my white Christmas. Ah well. For Christmas dinner, I made garlic prime rib, blue cheese mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, Yorkshire pudding, and a salad with pear and carmelized onion. Beth made a fantastic eggnog cake for dessert – all in all, it was a delicious Christmas. =)

The final set of pictures is from New Years Eve. Alin, Christina, King, Nif, Michelle, Mike, Chad and I all got gussied up and headed out to the Willard Intercontinental for a great big party and had a great time. You can also check out the professional photos here, if you’re interested (our crazy prom photo is 5131 and 5132).

Finally, since I know some people are interested, I’m currently 56 out of 63 on the Consular Register. I’ll get there one of these days!

And by the way – I’ve added some new links on the left. Check them out!

Weekends with the Halfaker Crew

October 18, 2009 in Updates by melissa | No comments

I’ve spent a weekend morning with the Halfaker and Associates for the past two weeks, and I must admit, we’re having some fun. Last week we went to Hartland Orchard in Markham, VA to pick our own apples. Chad and I met up with Allison, Cyrus, The Siglers, Mike and his friend James, and Rebecca and her husband Patrick in the chilly fall air picked some apples, had a picnic then ate some caramel apples. The highlight, besides lunch, was that I got to meet some goats! The rest of the crew went out for a hayride, but I was cold, so Chad and I headed home. We had a lot of fun. Take a look at the pictures!

This morning, in the mist and the cold, we met at Burke Lake in Fairfax for the 3rd Annual Run Around the Lake for the Wounded Warrior Project. Chad ran and I worked a water station, and the event raised over $12,000 for Wounded Warriors. I have a couple of pictures from the water station if you’d like to check them out.

Two Years Down!

October 1, 2009 in Updates by melissa | 1 comment

Chad and I had our second anniversary on Tuesday evening. Here are some of MY highlights from the past year.
- Being and election official
- Thanksgiving with my parents and your mom
- Passing the Foreign Service Oral Assessment
- Getting a new job at Halfaker and Associates
- Getting a new bike!
- The Supinger Family Reunion
- Seeing Turandot and the Kennedy Center for my birthday!
- Surprising Chad with a trip to New York City for his birthday!
- and, of course, making new friends and getting to know some of the old current ones better!
(oh, and dinner at Restaurant Eve!)

What about you, husband? Any highlights?

Server Switch!

September 26, 2009 in Updates by melissa | No comments

I’m switching servers today kids, so things may get a little weird…

EDIT:
DNS switch looks like it went well, everything is pretty much working. Now I just have to mess with the gallery themes…

EDIT:
Since there was a lag between when I uploaded the database to the new host, I lost two posts. They’re back now. =)

Surprise Trip to New York

June 29, 2009 in Travel, Updates by melissa | 2 comments

For Chad’s 30th birthday, I surprised him with a trip to New York City for the weekend.  We left Thursday morning, and he had no idea where we were headed.  At first he thought we would be flying out of National, then when we got into the car and headed north, he thought we might be heading to BWI.  It wasn’t until we were almost out of Baltimore when the sign for I-95 north read New York did he figure it out. But at this point, he didn’t know what the two planned evening activities would be for the weekend.

On the way there we stopped at a diner in Bordentown, NJ called Mastoris. There was just too much lunch for us to eat, but it was pretty good. While we were there, I showed him the tickets for the evening – to a taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Chad and I are fans of Jon’s show and interview style, so I made sure to get tickets back in February. Read the rest of this entry »

The May Birthday Picnic

May 10, 2009 in Updates by melissa | 2 comments

Yesterday marked the 5th anniversary of the Annual May Birthday Picnic, and the weather was fantastic. Joel came out from San Diego (ostensibly for work, but we all know why he was really here) and got a moon bounce, Christine made her famous mici, and I brought fire (and a bunch of chicken). We had about 60 or 70 people there, and everyone had a good time – especially in the moon bounce. Most of the pictures we posted are of the moon bounce – it was definitely more successful than the rock wall from two years ago.

Without further ado, go take a look at the pictures!

04 - May Birthday Picnic - A quiet Moonbounce

Bikes and Wine!

April 26, 2009 in Updates by melissa | No comments

01 - Warm Weekend - New Axiom PanniersBut not at the same time, of course. Friday afternoon, Chad came out to meet me on the trail – and he got some nice pictures of my new Axiom panniers in action – they’ve been really handy during my commute, and on trips to the store, etc. Of course, they’re really cute too – which is why I got these particular bags in the first place! We had a very warm weekend – 90F’s warm. Of course, this would be the weekend of the Reston Wine Festival, which we attended with some friends. It was a little too warm for wine, luckily, I brought along my parasol!

05 - Warm Weekend - King Contemplates the White The wineries were all local – and Virginia is a good climate for sweeter wines, which are usually served chilled. I’m not usually a fan of sweet wines, but in the heat yesterday, they tasted fantastic! We picked up a bottle from the Lake Anna Winery, which is a little funny because we often pass them on our way to or from visiting the Pitchke’s, but we had to go to Reston to finally taste the wine.

On the way home from the wine festival, Chad and I stopped by Hudson Trail Outfitters and picked up some stuff – including a new bike for Chad!  This morning, we took the bikes out and tried to go to the West End Alexandria farmers market.  Of course, it doesn’t open until next weekend, but we still had a nice ride around the park where it’s held, before riding to run our errands. We were out in the 90F+ weather for about three hours and got a little sun – I will definitely sleep well tonight.

Go see the rest of the pictures!
03 - Warm Weekend - Group before the Wine Festival

Sakura Matsuri 2009

April 4, 2009 in Updates by melissa | No comments

Yesterday I felt like I was coming down with a cold. Today, I felt like I was getting over a cold. I’m happy to have skipped the middle part of actually having a bad cold. Since today was sunny and windy and nice, and because I was feeling much better, Chad and I headed down to Penn Quarter to visit the 49th Annual Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival. Although I’ve been to see the cherry blossoms every Spring I’ve lived in the DC area, this was my first Sakura Matsuri. We had a fantastic time, watched a lot of martial arts (open hand, swords and archery!), some performing arts, and walked down to the incredibly crowded tidal basin to see the trees in bloom. I also learned that if you stick your camera above the crowd, you can still take a decent picture (even if it is a little over exposed – it was VERY sunny out today).

Highlights of the day: The weather, the demonstrations, dragon kite, and the sakura!

Low points of the day: The crowds were huge so the food lines were very long. The taiyaki vendor was sold out before I could get one. =(

Pictures are up in the 2009 – Sakura Matsuri Gallery – check them out!

67 - Cherry Blossoms with Jefferson Memorial

The Last Week

March 16, 2009 in Updates, Work by melissa | No comments

This will be my final week at TSP. Last Tuesday I received, and accepted, a new job as a proposal assistant for a woman owned, disabled vet small business defense contractor called Halfaker and Associates. I’ll be person number 8 in the corporate office (there are many other employees working at their contract site), and all of my future coworkers seem like a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to the change and the shorter commute!

I’m taking next week off and I start on the 30th. During that week off, I’m considering seeing how a bike commute will work. I hope the weather is nice!

The rules for February $1/day/each

February 4, 2009 in Kitchen, Updates by melissa | No comments

Here it is, February 4th, and I’m just now getting around to posting my rules for the month, and how I’ll be tracking our food bill.

The first time we did this I kept track of how much we spent on food as it was purchased. I think this led to a lot of missed opportunity as we could not buy in bulk. This time, price is calculated as food is consumed. This way, I can make a big batch of something, and break up the cost per two person serving.

Last time, all sorts of stuff was “free” based on how often I needed to purchase it. If I only bought olive oil once a year, then it was free. Same went for things like maple syrup, soy sauce and even peanut butter. Items we could get for free (salt, pepper, sugar, etc), were free to use as well. For 2009, the following are “free.”

- Spices: Some people might say that my spices are too old and should be tossed. I say they still have flavor if I use enough!
- SMALL Amounts of Liquid Seasonings: Fish sauce, Soy Sauce, Liquid Smoke, because these are things
- Complimentary Items: Small amounts of sugar, creamer, mustard, ketchup, etc are fine. This does not mean I get to by a thing of half and half and use it in a meal, or make sugar cookies. If I want those things for free in a real meal, then we’ve got to go out into the world and glean them from whoever might be handing them out.
- Homemade Stocks: I keep a gallon sized bag in the freezer for discarded vegetable parts (peels, ends, etc). When the bag is full I make a stock. I’ve been filling the bag so far, so I’ll probably be able to make some stock at the end of the month. That means I get to use the stock I made last month now.

The final rule: If either of us looses too much weight, I’ll add food (even if it puts us over budget) until our weight levels out. This is not a diet, and last time I almost stopped the experiment because we were both loosing too much too quickly. In the first couple of weeks, Chad lost about 10 pounds and I lost 6, but then we leveled off. If either of us go over that, this experiment is over.

So those are the rules. Simple enough, right? Now why couldn’t I find time to post this earlier. *sigh*

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