A nice trip

Summer is quickly coming to a close. Stuart and I are on our way home from a delightful vacation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We had a great and relaxing trip and enjoyed getting to know (and spoiling) Titus and Elsa while catching up their parents. We enjoyed Tiffany's cooking and I'm appreciative and excited to try new recipes. We also indulged multiple times in delightful New Mexican cuisine, I love green chiles and sopapillas with honey. Stuart starts fall semester in a couple of weeks. And I have a baby shower to plan for Anna. Rachel is staying at our house until she leaves for Italy on August 18th (its going to be a long few months with her so far away!)

Date night was lots of fun new mexican, mircorbrews, and the arcade!

home pedicures are much more economical

 

our beautiful toes post pedicure!

Elsa and I all dressed for church

a unique root system on our hike

Stu and I hiking the Sandias

At an Isotopes game, Titus didn't like the mascot!

just relaxing on a rock

the wildflowers where taller than me!

vacation to DC

Staurt and I had a lovely trip to DC last week. However, after almost missing our connecting flight in Atlanta on the way there and have our itinerary changed by Delta on the way home we will strongly consider driving when we return in the future. Since our flights weren't direct the amount of travel time plus the amount of time needed at the airport prior to departure plus the stress of flying makes it almost easier to drive for trips of that length. During our time there we were able to check out a variety of touristy stuff: Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, FRD Memorial, view from the top of the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Korean Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Smithsonian American History Museum, Holocaust Museum, National Archives, Library of Congress, Supreme Court Building. We also went on a capital tour and to the Senate Gallery during session.  During Stuart's workshop I went to Ford theater and National Gallery of Art and to the Newseum with my friend Chelsey.
The highlight of the trip was being able to have dinner with many friends from college. On Sunday night we went to Fireworks Pizza with some Kappa Sig's from Purdue. On Monday night we went to Alexandria to eat at an amazing seafood place with Chelsey and Bill. Tuesday night we had a delightful dinner with Rick and his new wife Leah. On our last night in the city we had ice cream and walked around Georgetown with Chelsey, Bill, and their dog Little Bit.

Jefferson Memorial: Saturday night

Lincoln Monument Saturnday night

Squinty Sara on the Newseum Balcony with view of the Capital

At Gravely Point with Chelsey and Bill watching the planes land. One the highlights of the trip!

An Artist making a copy of one the the paintings in the National Gallery of Art

With my wonderful husband prior to our capital tour

With fellow McConnel Scholar Trey Pippin

Happy Belated 4th of July

On Saturday July 2nd Stuart and Ellen spent a long long LONG day completing the deck rails.  The upper inside portion of our deck is now complete! We still need to put a board on the front upper portion, put in the second I beam, and extend the creek stone wall before we have concrete poured. 

On the 3rd we spend the afternoon lounging on the deck and in the swing and then grilled hotdogs and brats on our deck with Joe and Ellen.

We love our newly updated deck!

On the 4th we went over to Joe and Ellen's house to grill and set off fireworks. 

Joe and Rachel

Stu with the bottle rockets

Molly was not amused, she wanted us to come watch tv in the basement

 

Rach and Ellen got in on the firework lighting action

July, Oh where as the time gone?

Hard to believe how much things have changed in the last year. Last year at this time we had recently finished the patio and new privacy fence at Yorkshire. We had my mom's family over for a 4th of July cookout to celebrate. Now, just under a year later Yorkshire is sold and we have lived in our new house for over 6 months. We had hoped to have the deck and porch finished prior to the 4th. But as usual with DIY projects we are a bit behind. With any luck the top of the deck will be finished but we sill have some work to do down below. We still need to extend the creek stone wall and put in the second I beam for structural support prior to having concrete poured.

More progress but not complete.

The first segment of deck rails are in place. 

On a happier note we have finished the gazebo project and have the swing hung!

An eventful Wedneseday

After months of anticipation we finally closed on the Yorkshire property yesterday. I'm going to spare you the details but let me just say that after almost three hours at closing yesterday we are very Very VERY excited to have the whole process finalized. Now that we no longer have the responsibility of a second property Stuart and I can focus on our own house!


After a stressful day we had exciting evening plans that included dinner at our favorite Mexican place in Louisville, Santa Fe. Which just happens to be right across from my old apartment near Churchill Downs. (Sadly the food at Santa Fe doesn't measure up to food available in Santa Fe New Mexico but it's the best we've found locally. Excited for some authentic New Mexican food in August!) After dinner we left Stuart's car at the restaurant and went to Dairy Kastle for some ice cream. We then headed down to Central Park to enjoy Shakespeare in the Park. Santa Fe, Dairy Kastle, and Shakespeare in the park really bring back memories of Summer 2005. Oh how time flies. However, mother nature decided to intrude on my nostalgia. Just before the entertainment began it started pouring down rain, no thunder, no lightening, but then the tornado sirens went off. We really didn't think much of it, after all it was only raining. After about 15 minutes Stuart and I decided to make a run for the car. After a quick phone call to Anna and Kelsey we decide to head to Starbucks at 3rd and Central because it was close to Stuart's car. Of course anyone who knows the area and saw the news last night knows that this was the area hardest hit by the storm. Unintentionally we got a great view of the damage before it started raining. The whole area was without power so we decided to go to Panera on Popular Level road. However it was also dark.  By this point we were tired of driving around in the storms and took refuge in Stu's parents basement. We had fun despite the fact that the weather doppler is much less entertaining than Shakespeare!

Stu with our ice cream

pouring down rain

the back up back up back up plan!
too bad you can't see Anna's 26 week prego belly

Yard Work and Deck Progress

Over the last few months we have been working on outdoor projects. After a long day of yard work with the help of mom and dad we are many steps closer. It was a cool rainy day but was actually perfect for the task at hand. By the end of the day we had taken out 3 trees, 3 large bushes (including one with very prickly thorns), and 3 small evergreen bushes. 

OLD view from the front yard taken late last summer

 

NEW view from the front of our house

 

see all our hard work bundled up!

notice how the gazebo is less crowded, we will be hanging
a white swing in it (made by uncle Charles)

basement door and stairwell are no longer blocked we still need to add
the deck rails and pour a concrete sidewalk

former home of the prickly bush, clearing the way for the new sidewalk

 freshly repainted wrought iron lounger courtesy of  Craig's List
and table from mom and dad

freshly repainted table and chairs on the newly painted deck
(but now covered in muddy footprints!)

bench in front of our finished widow,
hard to believe this used to be a sliding glass door

Weekend Fun

Thursday night we went to Gerstles on Frankfort Avenue to listen to the 23 String Band. One of my friends from high school Scott Moore plays the fiddle in the group and Stuart and I have been wanting to catch a show.  Kelsey was able to join us. We enjoyed the music and hope our schedule works out to catch another performance soon.

This weekend I took Saturday off to celebrate the wedding of Glypie Grider (one of the girls from my McConnell Scholars class) to Mark Jones. I was pleasantly surprised to see of my sorority sisters Amy Reeves Dickinson who is married to one of Mark's friends.

We spend Saturday night with Joe, Ellen, and Connor. On Sunday Stuart worked on the deck while I went to Breck County to visit family. My brother was home as well and we had a great day.