A nice relaxing weekend

Have you ever had one of those simple weekends thait was just utterly amazing?

This was one of those. 

We didn't do any high adventure activities, but just enjoyed each other and our new home here in DC. 

On Friday we were exhausted from our week so we stayed in, ate some tacos and cheered on our beloved BYU Cougars (who won so life was good)

Saturday we got up and went to the DC Temple. It is very impressive and the beauty of the Temple itself and the grounds is breath taking. Whether you are LDS or not, if you are in the DC area you should really check it out. The peace felt there is just good for the soul.

After that we got some lunch and went to the Arlington Cemetery for our weekend sightseeing. It is a humbling place to be as we reflected on all of those servicemen who have given their lives for our freedom. 

We visited the Kennedy family plot

Watched the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

And went to Arlington House, home of Robert E. Lee

View of Washington from the Steps of Arlington House

That night Dan settled in for a night of football and I headed to our Church for some dinner and the Relief Society Broadcast (which was wonderful itself)

Sunday we were called to serve in the Nursery which is children ages 18 months to 3 years. That will be an experience for Dan and I together, and we are excited to serve. 

After church we took a walk by the Potomac River and checked out the Jefferson Memorial. It still doesn't quite seem real to us that we are living in our Nation's Capital. It has so much to offer and has an amazing feeling of patriotism that you cannot help but get caught up in. 

That was our weekend! Next weekend we are heading to a Carolina Football Game! I'm so excited!

Dan's Birthday Weekend

During our time here with the Treasury (cough cough unpaid internship cough cough), we are going the simple route for birthdays, and well everything else...haha. 

By the way this has seriously gotten in the way of my previous plans for EPIC QUARTER OF A CENTURY BIRTHDAYS...but oh well. Epic 26ths maybe? Or maybe 27ths...who knows. 

Anyway, I did figure out that simple can also be fabulous. 

So Dan told me he wanted to stay home and have a home cooked meal for his B-Day, so I got to work making that simple yet FAB!

First item of business was the cake. I searched and searched and actually settled on cupcakes that I found on the one and only Pinterest. They were Reese Cup Cupcakes. They actually have a miniature Reese cups baked into them...Dan's heaven? I think so. I decided on chocolate cake for the batter and iced them with some peanut butter icing, and garnished with chopped up reese cups. 

No this recipe is not for those of you who have EVER used the phrase..."it's too rich". Dan and I actually bonded over our not understanding that phrase while we were dating. 

Since I'm me I didn't think making cupcakes for Dan's Bday and just putting them on a plate was in anyway appropriate, so I found some free printables and a dessert stand tutorial (made out of two plates and a candle stick holder...genius) online and got my thrifty craft on. 

Cake Stand Supplies

Mid Process...

Finished dessert stand with Cupcakes!

Birthday Banner!

 So on the morning of his birthday I got up while he was in the shower and surprised him with some pancakes for breakfast. 

He had to work all day...boo...so we had our little party for two when he got home. I cooked him a dinner full of his favorite foods...Steak, twice baked potato, asparagus, and jalepeno mac n cheese.

 Then Dan did his birthday boy duties by blowing out his candle...

Then came the presents...

He got a new shirt and tie, WW2 war poster, some treats, and his parents surprised him with tickets to the Maryland vs WVU football game the next day!

Then we snuggled up and watched Parks and Rec while laughing our butts off. It was a great evening together!

The next day we went to the Maryland Game! It was so fun and such a beautiful campus! It was shockingly cold..around 55 degrees so we froze, but it was a good game so well worth it! 

We headed home that night for some birthday leftovers along with some Gamecock and BYU Football. It turned out to be a fabulous birthday weekend for Dan! 

He woke up sick Sunday morning, but we will leave that part out.

I'm Married to An OLD OLD Man

Well, there comes a time in every young man's life where he has to officially....well start hating birthdays. 

My Dan has reached that point as today he turns a quarter of a century old (25 for those who may be confused)

Happy Birthday to this guy...

A little bit about Dan...

He is a sports fanatic...apartment living has been rough on him when it comes to having to keep the noise down while he watches games (yes we have had complaints)

His teams are: 

College Football: BYU, Michigan, ASU

College Basketball: Duke

NBA: Suns

MLB: Diamondbacks

NFL: San Francisco 49ers

NHL: Flyers

He has t-shirts for all of these teams and I am thinking its time to replace them as they are getting REALLY ratty.

His idea of dessert includes chocolate or chocolate and peanut butter. If one of those ingredients aren't included, he's not interested. 

He is famous (or infamous in my opinion) for downing a whole bag of double stuffed oreos in one sitting....on multiple occasions.

He served a two year LDS mission in Auckland, New Zealand

He HATES seafood

He has back packed to Machu Picchu in Peru, which is his favorite trip (not sure you can call it vacation) to date

He moonlighted as a saxophone player in middle school 

He swam in High School and has competed in two Triathalons

He has a passion for Finance and Investing. He reads investing books FOR FUN. While I'm reading murder mysteries, love stories or confessions of a shopaholic, you can find him reading, Too Big Too Fail. If you ever want to discuss the state of the current Economy or are looking into getting into buying or selling Options, he's your guy

He is a hard worker and is so dedicated to providing for our future. He is the world to me and I feel so lucky to spend each and every day with him. 

Happy Birthday Dan...have a great day! You deserve it!

Labor Day Weekend Fun!

Over Labor Day weekend our friends Kelly and Darryl came to visit us in DC! 

Kelly is my best friend and has been since we bonded over our love of horses and the local minor league hockey team in town, the South Carolina Stingrays, in the first grade. 

Needless to say I am always THRILLED to spend time with Kel. She rocks and always finds time to come visit me in the many locations I have found myself living in recent years. Utah, Miami, DC, you name it. She's that kind of friend....awesome. 

So we had a fabulous weekend with Kelly and Darryl. As we tried to make a list of things we wanted to do while they were here, we quickly discovered that food was the common theme on the list...typical. We did manage to sneak a few other things in as well. 

They arrived Friday night and we hopped on the metro and went to this yummy hole in the wall Italian restaurant. It was right across the street from where Kel lived when she interned here in DC for a Congressman.

Then we went to bed because we are old now. 

Saturday we went to a place I had seen on Man vs. Food, Ben's Chili Bowl. It is a local favorite of Bill Cosby and President Obama. We waited forEVER and had a bit of a rough experience but once we got our food, we were happy campers. Kelly shares my irrational love of hot dogs so we were in heaven. 

Does it make me weird that this looks delicious to me?

Dan and I enjoying our nutritious chili dog complimented by chili fries

Darryl and Kelly

After Ben's we attempted to head in to Georgetown for some DC Cupcakes. Well we couldn't find parking, traffic was horrible, and the line for DC Cupcake was wrapped around the building. 

FAIL. 

But Georgetown is so beautiful and it inspired me to go there on some future Saturday. 

So then the rest of our Saturday was dedicated to college football. Since our apartment is beyond small, we headed to a local restaurant that has all the games. We caught the end of the BYU game, GO COUGS, where Dan stood up and did his happy dance and cheer when the Cougars scored a late touchdown to win the game. Everyone stared. I loved it. I love Dan.

Then we caught the Carolina Gamecocks season opener. It was so much fun to watch the game and just sit and talk and talk with Kelly and Darryl. Sure wish we lived closer. 

The Gamecocks won so that topped off our night quite nicely. We were at the restaurant for almost six hours...haha. Lots of appetizer game food was consumed. It just added to our eating theme for the weekend. 

The next day we got some Brunch at Clyde's and explored some of DC. We went to H&M, Ford's Theatre, and the new MLK Memorial (which is AMAZING by the way, a must see if you are going to be in DC anytime in the future)

Dan in front of the China Town Arch

The home where Lincoln Died - Directly across the street from Ford's Theatre

Ford's Theatre - That is the box Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot.

Inside of Lincoln's Theatre Box

Dan and I doing some sight seeing

That evening we were SO worn out from walking all over the place, so we decided to stay for the night. We sat around talking and watching some TV eating Pizza and homemade Pazookies. YUM. That is one of the things I love about D and Kel, they like just simply hanging out as much as Dan and I do. 

It was the perfect ending to our weekend. We were sad to see them go, but had SO much fun with them here! 

Thanks for visiting Kel and D!!!

Home is where...well who the heck knows

I have started feeling guilt surrounding my use of the "h" word. I feel guilty for referring to my new home as home because I feel like I'm betraying the home I grew up in. I also feel guilty when referring to SC as home because it is not the home I share with Dan.

What's a girl to do?

So I have given this a lot of thought and remembered some quotes about home I have heard referenced. I think I may have come to a conclusion...ok maybe several conclusions, but I like that. 

"Home is where your husband is."

This is true. Dan and I have moved three times in the last year so we have had three different homes. I have truly learned that home is wherever we are together. The actual roof over our heads doesn't seem to matter. That is kinda nice. 

"Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to."

Well This certainly hold a lot of truth as well. Growing up I really wanted to know what else the world had to offer other than Goose Creek, SC and I couldn't wait to find out. Then I actually left and still find myself finding every excuse in the world to get back as much as possible. 

"Home is where your heart is"

So true. However this further confirms that idea that home is a concept because it is physically impossible for me to have as many homes as places where my heart resides. My heart is in Goose Creek, Chandler, Provo, Miami, DC, shoot Hawaii for that matter.  

"Peace - that was the other name for home."

 

And we have a winner. Home is Peace. We feel peace when we are at home and anywhere we feel peace can be considered our home. 

  In my mind, home is a concept more than an actual place. 

Works for me. 

Anyway, the point of all of that is that I just returned from a trip "Home" to Goose Creek where I was for the past week. I decided to take the journey down south, frankly, because I could and I wanted to take advantage of that. So I packed up my "office" and suitcase and took off. I still had to work, but I just set up in my parents house. 

I had a FAB week of shopping, going to the beach, scrap booking with Caroline, exercising, walking the Cooper River Bridge with my Momma, Sushi and gabbing with Jackie, celebrating my cousin Preston's B-Day, having breakfast with Aunt Mary, and taking in one of Caroline's soccer games with my Dad. Of course I didn't get my camera out once, I am seriously getting on my own nerves, but I did snap two with my phone. 

Isle of Palms - PERFECT DAY - That's my cousin Bryce playing in the tide pool.

Lo and Caroline bonding

I had a great time. It was just what I needed. Nothing beats spending time with family.

But then I got to come home to my Hubby.

Doesn't get any better than that!