Memorial Day, pt 2

Yes, our memorial day weekend was so exciting that it necessitated two posts. Ok, maybe it wasn't and I just got tired of writing the last one, so sue me! To wrap things up, we returned to Maryland on Sunday, stopping at Laura's new house in Harve de Grace. Then, we went to dinner at Hunan Manor to celebrate Christopher's completion of his graduate degree. There, Kevin was reunited with his first love. I took a picture so he could stare at it and drool during their long seperations:




Sometimes I catch him staring off into the distance, and I know he's thinking of this chicken, dreaming of a time when they can always be together. After dinner, we accompanied Christopher for some furniture shopping. Here's the face he made when he found a winner:

All in all, it was a packed weekend, but a fun one!

Memorial Day Weekend, pt 1

We kicked off the summer travel season with a bang, a roadtrip to Maryland and Pennsylvania. But we didn't leave before adding a new toy to our bag of tricks. For those of you who don't know, the men in Kevin's family are genetically inclined to be obsessed with photography. The gene has been laying dormant in Kevin, but I think the new camera may have massaged a little life into it.

We arrived in Maryland on Thursday evening and spent the night at my parents house before continuing to Harrisburg, PA on Friday. My old neighbor Erica has called Harrisburg her home for a little over 2 years, and I was so excited to finally get to see her humble abode. Erica has been training for an olympic distance triathalon as a part of Team in Training, an organization that provides training for athletes who dedicate themselves to fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She's been working so hard training and fundraising, so we were thrilled to see her in action for a sprint distance triathalon, a stepping stone to the olympic distance she'll be tackling next month. If you're interested in supporting her and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, you can visit her fundraising page here:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/cpa/cpaphly09/etindale

The spring distance is a 500 m swim, 16 mi bike, and 5K run. Whew, that's a lot of stuff! My inner nerd is wondering what the heck is up with them measuring each distance in a different unit? Regardless, it was a great race to watch as we were able to position ourselves to see her near the start and finish of each leg. She looked so strong and confident every time we saw her, I know she's going to do great when she doubles the distance. She totally made my day when she introduced me to one of her coaches by saying "This is my neighbor, Jacqueline, she lives in North Carolina"...which makes no sense, but it's exactly how I speak about her too :) 400 miles apart, yet forever my neighbor. Here are a few pictures of her from the race:

Chilling (literally, it was in the mid-60's) in the water before the start:



Transitioning to the Bike:



Finishing up the Bike:




And wrapping up the run:

After all the activity (in addition to her 4:30 am wakeup!), you'd think Erica would have been up for a nap after we went for a post-race lunch. Yet, it was her boyfriend Ryan who was ready to fall asleep on the job when we visited a local brewery after the race:

So, in that picture was Erica, Ryan, Brian, and Laura. I think I might need to give either Ryan or Brian a new nickname that doesn't have the "ian" sound to it so I don't accidently call one the other!

After this picture, I had to give Kevin a lecture on sharing:


And finally, we checked out downtown Harrisburg, which was having an art festival along the riverfront, which made for some fun browsing. Here's a picture of the "neighbors" with the river in the background:

More pets!

Our camera putzed out on us, which has made me very unmotivated to do blog updates since I can't share pictures of the deck Kevin stained, the wheels Kevin painted, the garden we're growing, and the various creatures that hang out in said garden. In the absence of our camera, I've gained 25 lbs, grown a hairy wart on my lip, and dyed my hair pink. Just kidding, but maybe I should take advantage of the absence of life documentation by doing something crazy.


We made a trip up to Md/Va a few weeks ago to attend Kevin's cousin Laura's bridal shower & bachelorette party. Well, I attended those events, Kevin hung out with the groom and other family that came to celebrate. Kevin's traveled to Memphis this weekend to do the bachelor party thing with JP, celebrating with a weekend full of beer and bbq. In a little less than a month, they will be Mr. & Mrs, and we couldn't be more thrilled for them!


I ended up a little short on my push to run a second 1/2 marathon. 10 miles short, to be exact. My knee started bothering me a few weeks before the race, and intensified to the point that I was unable to finish my last 10 mile training run the week before the race. Knowing that I couldn't push through 10, I realized that 13 was out of the question. I raced a 5K instead, and cheered my running partners Keri-Anne and Amy to the finish line for their 1/2. They did amazing, though I have to say I was a tad sad that I wasn't right there with them. And that's when I knew I was sick. Who gets sad when they can't run 13 miles? I think I'm an addict! Like any good addict, I was a total crankypants during a 3 week running hiatus, but I'm happy to say I'm getting back out there. I'm starting slow & short and hoping my body doesn't mutiny.


Kevin's job search has been...going. The job market sucks and we're trying to be patient, which if you know either of us, patience isn't something that comes naturally. Nonetheless, we're happy the summer is here with lots of weddings & weekend trips to look forward to. This is good news for the blog as well, since I guess I'll have something to talk about!