Hello's and Goodbye's

This week has brought a little bit of everything. Some sunshine, some rain, friends saying goodbye and new ones coming. Simon and Alexis took off for downtown D.C. on Tuesday morning to stay there for a few days. Then Gail came yesterday for the rest of weekend and her boyfriend, Roger comes today.

It's been great having friends come out and visit right away. Makes the move a little less lonely and a little more like home. So far this week I've been working lots to get my part-time hours in on the earlyside so Gail and I can go have fun downtown.

Half Marathon Whim

Friday afternoon Geoff and I drove Simon over to packet pickup for his marathon the next day. He had come into town to run the Inagural National Marathon hoping to qualify for boston. (Which he did!! Ya Simon!). As we are waiting around for Simon to finish registering , Geoff turns to me and says 'Look, we can still sign-up for the half marathon. Want to run it? Do you think you could?' So what can one say when asked if they are up to the challenge of running a 1/2 marathon? Mind you the longest I had run in quite some time is no where near 13 miles. The best reply of course is 'Why yes, could you?' As you can guess it didn't take us long to convince each other to run the Inagural National Half Marathon together for fun.

So early the next morning all three of us put on our race numbers and running clothes, while Alexis, Simon's girlfriend (who is also here visiting) is getting ready to cheer us all on. Thanks Alexis for all the great race pics!

Off we went at 6:58am from RFK stadium. Actually there wasn't enough porta-potty's so we had to wait around until after the started. So off we went after the race started, chasing down the rest of the runners. We were the last to start but we didn't care, they used chips for timing. Geoff and I decided to run together and make it a fun run. And fun it was! We ran down Indenpendence and Constitution Ave. right by the Capital, the mall and the White House. Then down to the Tidal Basin and back around. We did the majority of our miles around 8:10 min/mile pace. I finished with a time of 1:47 and Geoff 1:46 and some change.

Washington D.C. Trip

I have lived here one and a half weeks and yet to head downtown. So finally Thursday, it was time to head out to D.C. Geoff was sadly at work, so it was just Simon and I. We were aiming for one of the Smithsonian museums. We decided to make the trip more interesting by take public transportation. Luckily for me Simon has some experience in this area, as I've only ridden the bus once, about 2 months ago. That experience was all positive so I was open to trying it again, but in a new city - the murder capital of the U.S. !

So here's the plan:
1. Drive my car to the park and ride.
2. Take the Bus to the Metro (light rail) station.
3. Take the Metro to the Smithsonian exit pictured here. Whew.




Before we knew it we were standing in the Mall ready for the first museum that caught our eye. Turned out to be the Natural History Museum. Now there's some crazy animals in there! Tons of them looked like mixes of animals you have seen. The weirdest one is the small Armadillo. It really looks like some crazy put together prank. It has a armadillo back, baby duck body and turtle legs. But there it was, sitting all stuffed on the display in the museum. What's there not to believe?

We eventually got exhausted and decided to take the Metro again and meet up with Geoff in old town Alexandria for some Thai food. Good decision guys! Red curry is the best and a great way to finish off a fun day.

All Set-up

Geoff and I bought an end unit townhouse in Virginia. I never thought I'd like a townhouse but it's great. And very diff then the ones in Minnesota. It's actually the same size as my old house in MN, and actually has tons more windows. And to boot, I'm getting a ton of exercise going up and down all these stairs! Here are a few pics of the place all set-up. I still have plenty to do including decorating and painting but wanted to share some photos with our stuff in it. (Mom - Here's the new duvet cover! What do you think?)

This morning it's just me and the puppies hanging out. Geoff is already gone for work and Simon is still sleeping. Which is good, as it sounded like he needs it! Simon and are are thinking of heading downtown D.C. today and checking out the Washington Monumnent and a few other attractions. Should be a fun time and I'll make sure to bring my camera.


Living Room


Main Bedroom


Kitchen


Dinning Room

Our First Visitor

Today we have our first visitor. Ya for visitors :) Simon has come out to run the Nathional Marathon this coming Saturday and will be hanging out with us for 9 days.

Working from Home

Oh the joys of working from home. I've never had the opportunity to tele-commute until now and I am enjoying it so far. Plus I just started part-time last month to help with the moving and love all the free time. (Actually it doesn't seem like that much time?)

So here are a few of the perks I've found from working from home part-time:

1. Eating as many snacks as you want, whenever you want.
2. Wearing pajama pants and t-shirt all day long. Yes this does get old.
3. Playing with the puppies throughout the day, as sadly it is my main social interactions.
4. Working form the couch or desk with lots of windows.
5. Exercising at anytime during the day or night. ( You'd think I'd be in great shape, but refer to #1).
6. The potential for sleeping in! I haven't perfected this yet though as I get up at 7am EST most days but plan to make the most of it a few days here and there.
   

First Week

I have spent every moment of spare time unpacking boxes and setting up rooms. Well that is the spare time outside of telecommuting for my work three days this week, cooking two meals for Geoff's family and friends, and daily exercising. In the 5 days I have been here, I have every room unpacked and set-up. (Well, all but the computer room - Geoff: hint, hint) I think it might be a record.

It feels so wonderful to be unpacked and in a place to call home again! Now it's time to venture out and find some new friends. Anyone looking for a friend in Oak Hill or Reston area? :) Well that's all for now. Here's a pic of us in our new place. I'll post some more pics of the place shortly.

Suprise Birthday Party

I know this is a bit after the date, but thanks to everyone who put together and came to my suprise birthday party. It was wonderful to know so many people were willing to take time out of their schedule to come to a party for me. See, I turned 30 on Dec 30th (golden birthday too), but I hadn't wanted a suprise party. As I thought no one would come. Boy was I wrong!! What a great turnout :) Thanks Mom, Tana, and Geoff!

Here's the highlights of the event:

• The fact that I was 100% suprised by the party.
• Wearing big white Sorel boots into the house.
• All the wonderful friends I got to see.
• The yummy cake I ate a ton of for the next week!
• Being the first of my friends to turn 30 and telling them how horribily old I feel. :)
• Introducing my new fiance & showing off the diamond ring I got the night before!

The Move to Virginia

THE MOVE
It is time for the four of us (Me, Geoff and the two dogs - Austin & Genni) to say goodbye to Minnesota and hello to Washington D.C. We officially moved to Oak Hill, Virginia this last week. (The town is also called Herndon, Virginia). I would say this is my biggest adventure ever. Moving 1/2 across the U.S. to the East Coast! Now that is quite the adventure for a Midwestern girl that has lived in the Twin Cities all her life. It's a sad, but exciting time. I love you, my family and I am going to miss you terribly. My heart aches when I think about all the family times and friendships I am going to miss. I will try my hardest to stay connected to each of you're lives. But even with that sad thought, I hope there will be a chance to expand my world and find out more about myself.

THE DRIVE
So with that thought of leaving family and friends, we loading up the car, piled in the two dogs, added the trailer on the back, filled it to the max, and drived across the country - 20 hrs straight. On the way I saw Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all in a days time. What a long rainy day, then night, then day again. I was actually teary eyed for the first half of the trip, but after a talk with my Mom I realized I need to look at the bright side - I was heading out to the biggest adventure of my life. The only thing that kept us going was coffee and sunflower seeds. Geoff actually drove the whole night and during that time ate two whole large bags of sunflower seeds! (I was moral support) After many cups later of sunflower seed shells and gas station stops we finally arrived.

ARRIVAL
The first thing we did after getting here and unpacking was... no not sleep after pulling an all nighter... but a bike ride! It was 80 degrees and sunny so who could resist!! Then we crashed for some needed rest.

First Post

The start of a new adventure...