Trip #1: Utah

I've never seen anyone so happy to be woken up at 6 in the morning. Amelia has been asking about the airplane ride all week. She even wanted to wear her backpack to bed. Hopefully she is quietly watching a movie on the plane with Ben right now...I will be catching up with them later tonight...


Amelia getting impatient this morning, waiting for the car to be loaded up.

At least the cake was good...

I don't think anyone has ever pegged Sarah as a sports fanatic, but she was inexplicably excited about the Packers in the playoffs this year. She even made a special three-layer cake (from scratch!!) with the image of Wisconsin on top. We watched the NFC Championship with the Webbs last night. They provided dinner, we provided dessert and the Packers attempted to provide the entertainment. Success on two counts. Though the Pack couldn't get it done in overtime Sarah pulled off the come from behind victory with the cake. Yes! I AM using a sports analogy to describe Sarah's culinary exploits! She was nearly down for the count (Yes! a mixed analogy to boot) when Mrs. Millman's famed dark chocolate frosting failed to congeal. But Sarah was not so easily defeated. Like the Packers in better times, she used the frigid weather to her advantage. The freezer was not cold enough, but the front porch was. The stars aligned, the elements came together and a cake was forged--one cake to rule them all. I wonder if Mr. Tolkien was secretly a cheesehead?




(Thanks to Steph for the beautiful cake stand that inspired such a creation.)

01-18-08 = Cloverfield

Bomb threat at the World Bank = World Bank shuts down for a day = unexpected day off for Ben

so...

Micaela offers to watch Amelia for the morning = Ben and I head to movie theater = Cloverfield

and...

Hand-held camera filming 80 minutes of running/death/destruction/monsters = a nausea-inducing film = me leaving the movie twice = frustration because I missed some of the best parts = don't see this movie if you have motion sickness issues

MY-KEA

I love cubes. I love cube systems. I can't get enough of them in my house. So we decided to ditch our broken dresser for something more functional. Enter the cube system. But it needed to be unique and classy. So we went to IKEA (the functional part) and purchased yet another unassembled piece of furniture and modified it to make it our own. It was a difficult process at times but after several trips to Lowes, we made it work. We're quite pleased with our collaborative effort. Next project: turning our old armoire into an entry way storage bench...

Create design blog. Check.

I could spend hours (and have) browsing the world of design and craft blogs. It is so fun to get ideas for new projects and find so many tutorials and recommendations. Ben has been telling me for awhile that I need to stop spending all of my time looking at other design blogs and create my own. So here it is. It will be nice to have a place to keep track of all my projects, share my findings with others, and link to other fun ideas I find.

Snow Day

It started snowing on our way to Amelia's art class this morning and by the time we made it home, everything was in a beautiful blanket of white. Finally. So what better to do on a snow day than bake some bread?

George and Abraham

After living here for 3 1/2 years, I finally made it to the top of the Washington Monument. I haven't had the desire to fight the tourists, but this time of year seemed like my best chance to check it out without too much of a wait. It was a perfect clear day so it made the view from the top worth it. We walked over to the Lincoln Memorial and after climbing up all the stairs by herself (which she was very proud of), Amelia proclaimed "he's a giant" and then promptly tried to sneak under the rope to get a closer look.

Rainy Day

Is it really January?

What do you do when it's over 70 degrees for two days in a row in January? You spend as much time outside as possible. And you eat ice cream.

We had fun hanging out at Hains Point in D.C. yesterday, climbing around on the giant statue. I also took care of a spray painting project that was awaiting some warm weather for completion. And today we met the Webbs for some animal viewing fun at the zoo. We lucked out and were able to witness the python devouring a rabbit (I have video upon request). Apparently he is only fed once a month and he downs the thing in about 15 minutes. Good timing on our part. We also got to see the orangutans crossing the big ropes that go across the park. Even the panda bears were up for a little action and the naked mole rats were busy scurrying about.