Getting Ready

This weekend Henry and I both had Friday off, so we spent some of that extra time on finally finishing the nursery. It has been in a state of near completion for weeks now, and while I still have a couple small projects I want to do, it is now more or less finished. So here are some pictures of the finished product. (The coloring in the first couple pictures is a little off due to lighting)

The nursery from the doorway.

The other side of the room.

This is a more accurate depiction of the wall color. I finally made the crib skirt this weekend after putting it off for almost a month. And yes, that is a tree on the wall above the crib (we had someone asking us what it was).

Changing table, Dr. Seuss pictures, and the great blanket made by Tana.

Henson James Lopez

I know we are still supposed to have four weeks till his arrival, but it's a relief to have pretty much everything ready now. This long weekend came at the perfect time.

Curses, Foiled Again!

I had the very best of intentions to catch up on our blog this past weekend. I had pictures from Henry’s triathlon and of the almost finished nursery, and I was going to spend the afternoon diligently posting. Normally my sporadic posting is entirely my own fault, but for once I am innocent. Technology failed me.

I switched on our laptop and headed into the kitchen to clean while it booted up. About 10 minutes later I went back to the desk to sign in, figuring it would be ready, and was greeted with what no computer owner wants to see; a completely black screen and a slow but constant humming sound. The power light was on, the battery charging light was on, but the screen was blank. After a few failed attempts to make it do something, I finally gave in. Our trusty lappy, who has been with us since our last year of undergrad, has given up.

So we are currently without a computer, and therefore without access to any of the pictures I intended to share, so this will be a text only post. I apologize for the lack of visual stimulation.

First things first, Henry completed the Rumpus in Bumpass Triathlon! (*Imagine a great picture of him crossing the finish line here*). The weather was absolutely foul. We got to the lake that morning and it was pouring rain and cold. For a while it looked like there would have to be a delay for the swim, but it calmed down enough that everything started on time. The swim was in the lake (which was not particularly calm that day due to the weather), and the bike and the run were on the windy country roads that surrounded it. Henry finished in what I think was great time, through all of the rain and mud and wet slippery grass. He is now officially a tri-athlete!

The rest of my items to post are really best represented through images, so I will do a quick rundown of what else has been going on, and possibly update with pictures later.
1. Henry spend Easter weekend in El Paso, TX visiting his sister. While he was there he got to visit the white sand beaches in New Mexico.
2. We are nearing completion on getting the nursery ready. It is now painted, the wall decal is over the crib, the shelf is over the changing table, his initials are painted and on the shelf, and one of the three pictures has been framed in a newly re-painted frame and hung on the wall. Once we can find a chair that will fit we will be able to finish it once and for all. (So if anyone comes across a comfortable, yet relatively small arm chair, let us know. I am not opposed to re-covering it myself)
3. Spring is here! Ok, I know it's been spring for a while, but it really feels like it now. Our rose bushes are blooming, and Alexandria is a buzz with activity once again. The farmers market has fresh local veggies, the library just had their book sale, and the school just had their big flee market. The best thing, we can walk to all of it.

So there is my bland and imageless recap for the last month. If you read this far, I commend you for your patience. Hopefully by the time I next post I will have a computer again and have access to my files/photos.

Bumpass Bound

This Saturday Henry and I are heading south to the town of Bumpass Virginia for the Rumpus in Bumpass Triathlon (yes, that’s what it’s really called, and that is the real name of the town). The event takes place Saturday morning, and includes a 1500 meter swim, followed by a 24 mile bike ride, and ends with a 10k run. This will be Henry’s first triathlon type event, and I of course will be coming along as the trusty photographer and spectator. Henry has been in his final stages of training this week. I’m proud of how hard he has been working. Every day after work he has been going to the gym at the Pentagon to swim and/or run, and biking in the evenings when he gets home. While I would never think to attempt any event like this myself, it is fun to watch him prepare because he gets so energized by the training. Naturally when I found out we were going to be traveling to a town named Bumpass I wanted to find out a little more about it. In researching I found out all sorts of little fact, like that the town was named after the first family to settle there in the 1800s, the current population is approximately 6,350, and it is most known for its unusual name, many farms, defunct ice cream spoon factory, alpaca ranches, and lumbering operations. While all this research was mildly interesting, when I went to the Bumpass, VA website I had to laugh. The main page shows a road sign with the statement “Enter Bumpass, VA Leave Everything” and is captioned with the following quote: “You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead... ” —Rod Serling. Hmm…sounds like they have a rather high opinion of their little town. I am now officially intrigued. After a very busy week I am ready for the weekend and a chance to get away for the day. Let the Rumpus in Bumpass begin!

February Travels

February was a month of traveling for me. I think I was on more airplanes and in more airports during that one month than I have been in the last three years combined. Unfortunately my travels were strictly work related, but at least I got to visit some cities I had never been before. We are preparing to implement a new program at work, and since there are only two of us in my office working this issue, we were the only ones who could provide the training.

First stop was San Diego, CA. I have been to California numerous times since a lot of my extended family lives there, but this was one city I had never had the chance to visit.My view outside the window as we flew over Chicago. This was the last snow I would see for the rest of the week.

Most of my time in CA was spent either driving to and from airports, or on base to give training, but I did get to have a nice lunch at this cute little restaurant by the beach in between classes. My meal was served with freshly sliced Avocados and real sourdough bread. Two of the reasons I love California.

From CA I flew straight to Seattle Washington. I actually stayed and worked across the water in Bremerton, WA, but I could see Seattle from my hotel window. Everyone talks about how it always rains in WA, but it was clear and beautiful both days that I was there.This is the hotel I stayed in.

My next trip was a quick four day trip to South Carolina and Pensacola, FL. Ironically I had to take more flights to get to and from both of these places than when I was flying all the way across the country. I stayed in Charleston, SC. One of the days training got out early, and I got to see some of the old downtown. I wish I had more pictures of the architecture in that city. I would like to go back some day when I have the time to spend in some of the museums. There is a huge open air market that I got to walk around.

I was in Florida for a grand total of 24 hours, so no pictures from that stop. Believe me, there was nothing photo worthy in the town that I was staying in anyway. Lets just say it was the not the kind of place where you would want to go walking around alone after dark.

The trip home was a bit of a mess, with a delay going out of Pensacola, and a layover in Atlanta. I ended up having to take a shuttle in Atlanta to get to my terminal and jog all the way to the end with my luggage in order to board the plane before they closed the doors. Luckily I just made it.

After all of this travel I am VERY glad to be home for a while. I have no long trips planned for the near future, and am very happy about it.

It's a boy!

So we found out last Friday that we are having a little boy. Since then the list of things to do before he arrives feels like it has tripled, and time is speeding up. There are 19 weeks till his estimated arrival date, which in a normal world would sound like a long time, but for some reason now sounds like it's just around the corner.

We have started painting the nursery (well Henry started, I'm staying away from paint fumes at the moment) but due to a lack of advanced planning we have run out of painters tape and progress is stalled until we make a trip to the hardware store. It's a small room, so you would thin it would be a quick project, but somehow we have managed to drag it. I'll be glad once it is done, at least we will have completed one project.

Today we finally sat down and wrote a list of all the little projects we want to get done in the next four and a half months. Now that it's on paper I feel slightly more sane. On the bright side, I now have the energy to work on projects. On the down side, I am traveling for work 2 out of the 4 weeks this month so at home project time is limited to weekends.

Me, now that my bump is actually showing.

Happy Groundhog Day

It's that time of year again. The time when an over fed furry animal is pulled out of a tree stump in an otherwise unknown town in Pennsylvania to whisper in the ears of men in top hats and predict our meteorological future while national media catches it all on film. While I've never been to Gobblers Knob, I have watched the proceedings on TV, and I'll admit I was curious as to where this tradition started. For any of you likewise curious people, here is some information http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/punxsutawney/a/groundhog_day.htm

In my search of the history of Groundhog Day I found some little known facts abuot the event. Here are just a few I thought were interesting:

1. Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, has not seen it 15 times, and nine years are unaccounted for.

2. The National Climate Data Center reportedly stated that Phil's prediction's have been correct 39 percent of the time. This number is in conflict with Phil's club, which states he's been right 100 percent of the time.

3. In the years following the release of Groundhog Day, a 1993 film starring Bill Murray, crowds numbering as high as 30,000 have visited Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill in Punxsutawney where the ceremony takes place.

4. Though groundhogs typically live only six to eight years, Phil is reputed by townspeople to be more than 100 years old, surviving beyond a marmot's normal life span thanks to the strong constitution of his wife, Phyllis, and a steady diet of Groundhog Punch.

5. States without groundhogs are taking matters into their own hands by choosing their own weather predictor. Texas, for example, chose its state mammal, an armadillo, to predict the weather for their first "Armadillo Day."

6. The groundhog's full name is actually "Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary." It was so proclaimed by the "Punxsutawney Groundhog Club" in 1887, the same year they declared Punxsutawney to be the weather capital of the world.

So happy Groundhog Day everyone! Punxsutawney Phil comes out at 7:25 this morning, and although the odds are stacked against me, I'm hoping for an early spring.

Moments of Creativity

Lately we have been trying to finish up a lot of the projects we have started around the house. This includes putting the finishing touches on both the living room and our bedroom. One thing that we have been wanting to change is the lampshades on our bedside lamps. Instead of getting new lamp shades we decided to re-invent the ones we had using old magazines.

My lampHenry's lamp

We also recently got a new sofa for the living room, one that will last us for a long time. In order to make it fit in I had to recover my pillows. We found pillow covers that we liked, but of course they were the wrong size for what we already had, so out came the sewing machine! It has been a while since I have done a sewing project for the house, and it was fun to work on.

We liked the pattern of the fabric because it complemented the pattern of the artwork we already had.

(Just ignore the messy living room)








We also needed a new shade on the window in the back door, so we got an extra pillowcase. I took the case apart and was able to use the fabric, plus a strip of left over green fabric, in order the make the drape.

A close up of the curtain

It has been fun to have some creative projects the last couple weeks, and now that they are finished I will have to find a new creative outlet. Luckily we still have one more room in the house that I can work on :)