Thursday, April 28, 2011

April 27th

Goodbye Office.

Today we packed up the office for our big move to Woodbridge. It was 6 years ago that we moved into this new office building in Manassas. It wasn't exactly easy to get to, but was in a great location in Old Towne Manassas. Easy pedestrian access to restaurants, the Post Office and my Financial Planner.

Tomorrow I head to the new office. Being the Type A person I am, I want to get there by 7AM to start setting up my office. At a minimum, unpack the crates and set up the desk so I'm ready to start working at 8AM. It will be nice to be in "our" building and as a bonus, I have a friend who works in walking distance of the office.

Monday, April 25, 2011

April 24th

This is a picture of the world's laziest cat. After the previous day's Vet Trauma, coupled with her getting her flea/tick/heartworm/ringworm/Armageddon cream, my girl wasn't feeling too well. I knew this because:

a. I had to wake HER up to feed her breakfast (which she didn't eat);
b. Everywhere I went, she felt the need to lay either on me or as close to me as possible.

Above is a picture of her completely spread out and enjoying the DVR with Mommy.

April 23rd

This morning I had to take GG to the Vet for a vaccine and nail trim. GG usually loves the Vet. When I say love, I mean, she doesn't really put up a fight until you start working on her. She will walk around the room and sniff to her heart's content.

We got in the room and she did her thing. At one point she tried jumping from the floor to the table, and being the good mom I am (and figuring cats can jump pretty high), I sat there and watched her jump...and then miss....and then fall on the floor (seriously, where is Feline Protective Services). Then, this 16 year Vet Tech comes in to trim her nails. I give her the story in regards to where to start (feet first, left hand, right hand) but does she do that? No. GG comes out swinging from the gate. They then have to take her to the back. A few minutes later, GG comes back in with the doctor. It then takes three of us to hold her down to get her temperature taken. Once we are good, we get the shot. Immediately proceeding this, GG went right into her house and was like "Mom, I'm done. Let's pay the tab and roll out."

Thursday, April 21, 2011

April 21st

We are prepping for moving day over at the office. We've started throwing away junk (my favorite) and packing things. Today the movers dropped off the crates and bubble wrap. I can't wait til we move to the new house!!!

April 20th

This bumper sticker is so appropriate for DC Metro Traffic!

April 16th

Saturday, we got up early (are you seeing a trend) and headed out to our private bike tour around the City. Now, I haven’t ridden a bike since 1997 but this was fairly easy. It was really the best way to see the city. We started in Stanley Park, headed to Granville Island, the Olympic Village, Chinatown and Gastown. It took about 5 hours, with a stop for lunch, but we all had a great time. Here we are below standing next to the Olympic Torch!

April 15th

We caught the 7AM ferry to Victoria Island. After a 90 minute ride, we drove straight to The Butchart Gardens. Now I'm not one for flowers, but it was gorgeous. Again, getting there early allowed us to have the run of the place and take pictures without others in them. Here am I next to a huge tree! Next we headed to Victoria and checked out the Empress Hotel and Parliament. Then it was back to the ferry so we could change for dinner at West. We enjoyed an amazing meal and topped it off with cake to celebrate Mini Cooper!

April 14th


Being on East Coast time, all us girls were wide awake bright and early - despite having 5 hours of sleep. We picked up the car and headed North on the 5 to British Columbia. We stopped at the Visitor Center and took some pictures. Here is Denise, myself and Hilary.

We hopped back in the car and headed straight to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Here is Martta and I before heading across. It was so nice to be in the woods and having the place pretty much to ourselves. Next we headed into the City for our spa appointments and then out to a great dinner at CinCin. It was early to bed, because we had to catch the 7AM ferry to Victoria!


April 13th

My best friend Martta and her sister in law, Heather, have this great blog: www.hmhdesigns.wordpress.com. On it, they share different craft and food projects they have experimented with. Some are great successes and some are great successes after many trial and errors. One success was this great iPad cover. Martta recently made a similar case for her iMac and when I saw it, mentioned I would like one for my iPad. Little did I know she would make it so quickly and in time for our trip to Vancouver. Everything fits perfectly inside and its now my primary cover. I’m thinking of having her make one for my mom’s birthday! Check out the blog for instructions on how to make your own!

April 12th

In preparation for the trip to Vancouver, I picked up some Hunter Boots. I've been eyeing these for awhile and when I saw the initial forecast was rain everyday, I decided to splurge and get them. First, I ordered the standard boots from Zappos. Unfortunately they were a little too tight so I went to Nordstrom.com, ordered the wider Huntress boot online, and picked up from the store in Tysons. They fit like a glove and I wore them practically the entire trip. They are a little pricey, but good shoes are well worth it! Here is  picture of them in action!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

April 10th - 6th Annual Strides for Success

I have spoken here before about my goal this year to complete a 5K by actually running it. I do my fair share of 5K’s but it’s usually walking and chatting with a bunch of women and going to Brunch afterwards. So, I found an online training program, “somewhat” committed to it (took me 12 weeks as opposed to 8) and signed up to run Strides, which is our Spring fundraiser. Now, its been a busy League week - Strides and Class Project colliding together (did I forget to mention I am on the Strides and Class Project committees), but I was committed to race.

I arrived to set up early this morning, met my friends from work who graciously decided to run, assigned Course Marshal’s and then headed out to race. Now, I thought I was going to be in a good position, since I drove the course earlier and knew the 1, 2, 3 mile marks. Unfortunately, the Fairfax County Police set us off in the opposite direction so I was all kinds of messed up from the start. Joan and I started running, and I asked if it was ok to walk if I needed it (she is a super speedy runner). However when we made it to mile 2 and hadn’t yet walked and were still feeling ok, we noted that we could probably run the whole thing. We may have spoken too soon, because not soon after, I had to take two 30 second walk breaks. However, we determined, this still counts as running the whole race J As we came upon the finish line, we sprinted to the end with many of my new friends cheering me on. It felt great to actually accomplish my goal - I finished the race running, it’s the furthest I have ever run at one time and I did it with a good friend. Bonus - we had a great increase in participation!

Side note - after the race, Joan said she felt bad because I had to run two steps to her one. Doh short people!

April 7th


Tonight we had our final GMM for the League year. I had to get there a little early for our Class Project. As I approached the intesection. I noticed this pole looked a little askew. There was a similar situation off to the right. I knew this wasn't going to bode well for the night and we needed to have some sort of a meeting to collect items for the project.


Like any good Leaguers, we improvised and made best of the situation. We were allowed to open some doors (we meet in a Fire Hall), pull up some blinds and made due with flashlights when the sun went down. While the power was off for the foreseeable future, this handy disco ball must have been battery operated because it still worked and provided light and excitement for a short while.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

April 5th

Manassas Moment! It's been awhile, I know. So for those of you who aren't familiar, I post Manassas Moments to my Facebook page. They are just little snippets of my life in Manassas. While this was "technically" taken in Fairfax County, the car came from Manassas, so it counts in my world. I guess I should be proud its "somewhat" patriotic. but really - three different colors?

Monday, April 4, 2011

April 3

Since I was dog sitting all weekend, I came home Sunday night to spend some quality time with GG and the DVR. Someone must have missed me (and the TV) because she came and snuggled right next to me on the couch.

April 2

This past weekend, I dog sat for Dexter. He is this great Yellow Lab who is absolutely perfect. Other than the Parsons pups, he is my favorite. We can't really go for super long walks or play really hard since he has some joint problems. However, we did squeeze in a little play time on Saturday. His mom has this great device that lets you chuck a tennis ball without getting your hands wet with slobber. A great tool for a Lab. Dexter loves this game - almost as much as playing with his Wubba.

April 1

Tonight at Yappie Hour, we celebrated Diane's birthday. Joan and Steve are great about getting a dessert you like for your birthday and for Diane, that means cupcakes. I turned them on to a great cupcake shop in Reston - Red Velvet Cupcakery. The cupcakes were delicious - not too dense and very moist. I went for the chocolate chip cupcake and chocolate (not on the same night). Very delicious!

Friday, April 1, 2011

March 31

Tonight, Rhonda, Joan and myself went to a Women's Only Seminar presented by my Financial Planner. It was an informative session about taking control of your finances. While women still have a way to go to be equal with men on the pay scale, we did learn we have surpassed men in education!

The best part of the evening, however was the chair massages, wine, yummy food and chocolate!

March 30

Happy 5th Birthday Ginger!

This morning I took G's birthday pictures. It took a few but eventually we got a good one. Note to self - she looks better with the flash off, but I think that's true for me as well!

She got lots of birthday messages and even a present from her canine cousins Zoe and Ginger!