Bringing in the New Year

I realize that New Year's has come and past, but I had to post the pictures from our celebration with the neighbors. Our neighborhood is incredible. We have made incredible friendships with so many people over the last two years, and it is because of those friendships that I know we picked the right place to live. It is much farther from DC than we used to live, but it is also WAY better. And how awesome is it to have your friends within walking distance?!

Thanks to Anna and James for hosting the party, and to Kayleen and Kyla for pulling together the details.


Kayleen, Brad, Kyla, and Adam: (Brad is such a ham)

Johnny and Kayleen:

The beautiful Anna (we are going to her wedding in Moscow this May!)

Us (the walk through the down pouring rain made my curls fall flat)

The women

Kyla and Dex

Dex, ladies man extraordinaire

Anna and James

We had some camera happy folks

Getting ready for the ball to drop!

Brad being my light tester

There was much dancing at the end of the night, and I don't have pictures of it. Too bad too, it was a blast! Thankfully, Kayleen stole my camera and captured a couple of me and Brad.

Happy January!

Horsing Around

This weekend we went to Paradise Springs Winery in Clifton, VA for the grand opening. Luckily, the weather treated us to 50* of warmth, far better than the frigid air we had the last couple weeks. Clifton is a beautiful area of rolling hills of five acre plots, mansions, and horse country. And Paradise Springs is its first winery. There was a big controversy since Clifton didn't want the tasting room, but in the end, Fairfax County got its first winery. This is a big deal. As expected, everyone and their brother came out for opening day, and the tasting lines were ridiculously long. We eventually got through the line and tasted some pretty good wines.

In addition to everyone's brother, there were some Civil War reenactors at the event with their horses. Virginia is known for horses. Maybe not like Kentucky, but there are tons of horses in the rural areas. Which is why I was SHOCKED when Brad told me he had never been on a horse. Excuse me?! Where have you been? I have been on an elephant and the man has never been on a horse? That clearly had to be resolved.

Meet the horse. I neve asked his name. Or even if it was in fact a he. So let's call this horse Daisy.


Brad was a little unsure at first. Maybe he was just unsure because I asked this stranger to let my husband ride his horse. But there he goes. In a peacoat. Clearly not horseback riding attire.

Throw over that leg.

Steady, steady.

And he made it! Can you tell that his smile is telling me I am nuts?

He only sat on the horse for a minute, no riding. But the horse did take a step forward to eat some grass, so Brad thinks that counts as riding. "Well now if anyone asks if I have ever been on a horse, I can say I have."

I get so few pictures of me, so here are two.

On the way home we passed this pond that was mostly frozen so the ducks had to stand on the ice. It was cracking us up. We quickly pulled over and snapped a shot. Silly animals.

ps. If you go to Paradise Springs, we recommend the Chardonnay and the Viognier.

Ainsley's First Birthday

Ainsley is the best behaved child I have ever known. She started sleeping through the night quickly. She never cries. She lets anyone hold her and she is super light. She smiles ALL the time. And her parents happen to be incredible neighbors.

Even though her birthday was December 17, I am just getting around to posting these pictures from her party. I tell you, this holiday season was crazy for me.

Don't you just love her dress?

The dress wasn't suitable for cake though. So the clothes came off and Ainsley was let loose with her little cake. I took away much of the saturation in this photo for an older feel. She had fun smashing the cake.

I'm sure it tasted just as good smashed. Love the red hues in her hair. Her brother has vibrant red hair, and I hope she gets it too.

Ainsley, happy first birthday!

Lobster Dinner

One item on Brad's 101 in 1001 list is to cook his own lobster. We always see the lobsters on ice at Wegman's and pick them up to see their legs wiggle. Lobster is one of those foods that we all think of as being fancy and expensive, but it turns out, they are quite affordable if you make them yourself. So we picked out a couple good ones and invited over my parents and a neighbor for snow crab legs and lobster.

Brad wearing his seafood apron for the occasion

Check out how beautiful this lobster's coloring is.

In the pot you go! We put them in the freezer for a couple minutes before dropping them in the hot water. It apparently is more humane.

All red and beautifully cooked.

Brad cut the lobsters down the middle and scooped out the insides. Then we took off the legs and used a rolling pin to squeeze out all the meat. I'll have to ask him for the exact recipe, but essentially, he made a stuffing out of the lobster leg meat, breadcrumbs, and some other yummy things. The stuffing was put in the body of the lobster then baked in the oven along with the tail and the claws. It was delicious!

Yum... snow crab legs.

Mom and Tom enjoying the festivities.

And me, ready to dig in!

So glad Brad has all those food related things on his 101 in 1001 list. We also made eggs benedict this weekend and crossed that off the list too!

Ready for 2010

The holidays are finally over and things are settling back into normalcy. I took several weeks off to spend time with friends and family and my end of year to do list. Now, I am ready to jump into 2010. I didn't make any specific New Year's resolutions since I have my 101 in 1001 list still to complete. I am hoping to cross off several things on that list in the coming months. There are lots of pictures for me to catch up on, so look out for those.

Until then, here is one of me and Brad on New Year's Eve.