The R & E Times
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
On The Wings of Love
It all started in October. I was sitting in the GTA office with Scott, an Air Force Major who is finishing up his Masters in the same program as me. He was telling me how he was dreading imputing all of the data from his thesis into SPSS (a statistical software program similar to Excel on steroids).
Around this time, I was also trying to think of a creative idea for Richard's Christmas present (yes, I was thinking of Richard's Christmas present in October! I believe I deserve the Wife of the Year Award for that). Due to our eternal starving-student status, I knew that it had to be cheap. I've also been increasingly minimalist (I think living in a big city/small apartment does that to you), so I was going for a consumable gift.
Inspired by Sue Lowden's barter system plan, I asked Scott if we could barter our services. And barter, we did. I did the majority of his SPSS data entry for a weekend straight until I was seeing numbers in my sleep. And today, Scott kept his end of the deal -- and then some -- by taking us on an amazing plane ride!
We picked him up around 10:30 and drove to Stafford's very nice private airport. There we met beautiful Robin:
Isn't she beautiful? Although Robins are very popular in Europe, there are only 9 Robins in all of the US! And Scott owns one of them!
Because Richard is a skinny guy, we had to burn off some gas before they could do all of the fun aerobatics. Which meant that I got to go on a quick sightseeing trip first!
It was so much fun!! Scott is an amazing pilot from all of his Air Force training, and I didn't feel nauseous at all. Until... he gave me a quick lesson, gave me the gear sticks and told me to drive. It was really weird flying the plane. It felt almost like a simulator or something. Very surreal. After about 5 minutes of trying to turn and move the plane up and down, we were both feeling a little queasy (sorry Scott), so we decided to bring her back down and let Richard take his much more adventurous trip.
Here's Richard's account of his ride:
I hopped in and strapped myself in snugly. Scott started up the plane and we started down the runway. I admit to being a bit nervous. I had in mind all of those old war films with dogfights in rickety and bullet-ridden planes. Anyway, we headed down the the runway, picked up speed, and took off. The take off was very smooth and so I forgot about any possibility of a shoot out with the Red Baron. Then it was time for the aerobatics. We did all sorts of different maneuvers. I can't remember their names, but each is intended to lift your stomach and turn your face green. It was a lot of fun. It is a pretty crazy experience to be in a plane doing a nosedive or stalling the engine while going straight up. We returned safely. In fact, the landing was much smoother than any commercial flight. My thanks to Emily and Scott for a great day! Also, in case you're wondering, even though my stomach was lifted and my face turned green, I did not barf, ralph, or vomit.
After the rides, Scott treated us to lunch at 5 Guys, a perfect end to the day. It was a great day, and a fun way to break up our finals studying marathon!
Note: The title is a nod to the best season of Bachelor ever!
Around this time, I was also trying to think of a creative idea for Richard's Christmas present (yes, I was thinking of Richard's Christmas present in October! I believe I deserve the Wife of the Year Award for that). Due to our eternal starving-student status, I knew that it had to be cheap. I've also been increasingly minimalist (I think living in a big city/small apartment does that to you), so I was going for a consumable gift.
Inspired by Sue Lowden's barter system plan, I asked Scott if we could barter our services. And barter, we did. I did the majority of his SPSS data entry for a weekend straight until I was seeing numbers in my sleep. And today, Scott kept his end of the deal -- and then some -- by taking us on an amazing plane ride!
We picked him up around 10:30 and drove to Stafford's very nice private airport. There we met beautiful Robin:
Isn't she beautiful? Although Robins are very popular in Europe, there are only 9 Robins in all of the US! And Scott owns one of them!
Because Richard is a skinny guy, we had to burn off some gas before they could do all of the fun aerobatics. Which meant that I got to go on a quick sightseeing trip first!
It was so much fun!! Scott is an amazing pilot from all of his Air Force training, and I didn't feel nauseous at all. Until... he gave me a quick lesson, gave me the gear sticks and told me to drive. It was really weird flying the plane. It felt almost like a simulator or something. Very surreal. After about 5 minutes of trying to turn and move the plane up and down, we were both feeling a little queasy (sorry Scott), so we decided to bring her back down and let Richard take his much more adventurous trip.
Here's Richard's account of his ride:
I hopped in and strapped myself in snugly. Scott started up the plane and we started down the runway. I admit to being a bit nervous. I had in mind all of those old war films with dogfights in rickety and bullet-ridden planes. Anyway, we headed down the the runway, picked up speed, and took off. The take off was very smooth and so I forgot about any possibility of a shoot out with the Red Baron. Then it was time for the aerobatics. We did all sorts of different maneuvers. I can't remember their names, but each is intended to lift your stomach and turn your face green. It was a lot of fun. It is a pretty crazy experience to be in a plane doing a nosedive or stalling the engine while going straight up. We returned safely. In fact, the landing was much smoother than any commercial flight. My thanks to Emily and Scott for a great day! Also, in case you're wondering, even though my stomach was lifted and my face turned green, I did not barf, ralph, or vomit.
After the rides, Scott treated us to lunch at 5 Guys, a perfect end to the day. It was a great day, and a fun way to break up our finals studying marathon!
Note: The title is a nod to the best season of Bachelor ever!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
10 Things that Make Me Happy
- Surrounding myself with people who make me want to be better, try harder and think differently
- Living in a society where women are encouraged to get a higher education
- The first cool fall day after a long and hot summer
- My nursery kids at church
- Reading a really good book
- Paying only $2 for a used $150 textbook off of Amazon, and then getting the book with no marks or highlights on it
- Creating something pretty or delicious out of raw materials
- Spellchecker
- Richard's laugh
- My new GMU sweatshirt
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Summer Reading, Had Me A Blast
It's no surprise that both Richard and I love reading anything we can get our hands on. This summer, we had more time/willpower than usual (I attribute this mostly to our "No TV For You" month, see post below) to read some great books. Here are some highlights of our summer reading:
*Book selected for the R&E Peterson Book Club
**Book selected for book club with friends from church
And here are some of the books on our list for the upcoming months:
-The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
-The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand**
-Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner**
-Lots and lots of comm articles/books
-Lots and lots of law review article submissions
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy* (second favorite of the summer)
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins** (followed by Catching Fire, and Mockingjay to round out the series)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens*
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky**
These Is My Words by Nancy Turner** (Favorite of the summer)
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum**
*Book selected for the R&E Peterson Book Club
**Book selected for book club with friends from church
And here are some of the books on our list for the upcoming months:
-The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
-The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand**
-Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner**
-Lots and lots of comm articles/books
-Lots and lots of law review article submissions
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Summer Top 10
An unfortunate side effect of having a blog is that it is one more thing in life that I feel like I am not keeping up with as well as I should. Is "blog guilt" a phrase? If not, I am coining it currently. You read it here first, folks. Moving on.
During Summer 2010, we (roughly in chronological order)...
1. ... went to Utah (twice)! Richard celebrating getting a job by jetting off to Utah (sans wife) in May for a week (well, I did join for an action packed 36 hours later that weekend). In July, we returned to our tribal homeland for an equally action packed week full of family reunioning, fireworking and lots of playing. We also took some family pictures on both sides of the family. I spy, with my little eye... 9 cute cousins who call me Auntie Em, a funny expression on Rich's face and a nephew doing secret sign language...
2. ... went to Reid & Amy's wedding. We were so happy to go to the MacHargs' wedding at 2941 Restaurant in May. Richard and Reid have become good friends through law school, and we loved seeing them tie the knot! Oh, and we were only a taaaaaad bit jealous of their 2-week honeymoon to Bali...
The happy couple!
Reid & Rich
Law school peeps. For some reason, Jake's pose/expression in this picture really cracks me up.
3. ... ran the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in Seattle! In June, I went to Seattle to visit my sister Kristen. I inveigled my other sister Michelle and her baby Caleb to come as well, by telling her I couldn't make it to the family reunion. Later, I showed up anyway (bwa, ha ha!). The main focus of the trip was on Saturday morning when Kristen and I ran the Seattle Rock n Roll half marathon (my 3rd, her 2nd). Unfortunately, Kristen's back was hurting pretty badly during the race, but she still managed to pull through and finish. Way to go, Kristen! (Pictures to come when I get them from Michelle.)
Now we are training for the Richmond FULL Marathon in November... wish us luck!
4. ... attended various book clubs! We decided to declare June a "TV Free Month," complete with a Soup Nazi "No TV For You!!" sign displayed prominently on our TV. This left us with lots of time to read. Luckily, around this time, we co-started a Man's Book Club and a Ladies Book Club with some friends. The menfolk read and discussed The Brothers Karamazov and Bourne Identity over root beer and Costco pizza while we read Hunger Games (AMAZING. DYING FOR MOCKINGJAY TO COME OUT.) and These Is My Words (also amazing) over cookies and fruit. Richard and I also started the very exclusive Peterson book club, which consisted of Anna Karenina (Levin and Kitty make me smile) and Great Expectations (meh).
5. ... hung out at Eaton Square! In our Alexandria Ward, Eaton Square was considered to be "Little Provo" because so many young couples from our church lived there. I also tried to coin it "Little Italy" because the streets are named Milan and Florence, but that never really caught on. Partly for that reason, and partly because they had a pool and we didn't, we hung out there a lot. Incidentally, the Eaton Square equivalent of our new ward is Masonvale (on GMU campus), but we were too cheap to live there. Oh well, at least we have a pool now!
6. ... moved to Fairfax! We made the trek out west in July to be closer to the Fairfax campus for my MA program. We LOVE our new apartment (especially the dishwasher and washer/dryer). Video to come soon! A BIGGGG thanks to Richard's mom who flew out to Virginia for 2 days just to help us move. I think she probably loves us, or something. Richard and I commented several times during and after the move how it probably wouldn't have been possible to complete the move without her. Thanks, Linda!! There are no photos of the move, which is probably a good thing since we didn't shower for several days...
7. ...spent a week in Hoboken! The morning after I finished work, Rich and I hopped on a bus to go to Hoboken. Richard left to go back to work early Monday, but I stayed until the following Saturday to host Auntie Em boot camp for Thurman and Nico. I think Neeks took the term "boot camp" a little literal, as he wanted to run laps for me around the track at the park every day! We had lots of fun eating at Biggies, going to the Liberty Science Museum, hanging out at the water park, Church Street park and the "big" park by the Lincoln Tunnel. On Friday night, Carma treated me to a VERY special show on Broadway called Promises, Promises. Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes together... how could you go wrong?
8. ...got new callings in our new ward! Since there is no paid clergy in our church, members of each congregation are asked, or called, to serve in various positions (scripture study classes, working with the youth, playing the organ, leadership roles like the bishop, etc.). In our old ward in Alexandria, Richard worked with young men in scouting and I worked in the nursery during church services (18 months to 3 years). Well.... I was called again to the nursery, wahoo!! I love getting my baby fix each week. Richard was called to be a ward missionary.
9. ...welcomed a new niece to the family! My sister Jenny had a baby girl on August 6 (their 5th anniversary). We are so excited to meet Courtney Lynn as soon as possible! We now have 13 nieces and nephews.
10. ...got really excited for school to start! Richard actually started his third year of law school yesterday, and I start my graduate assistantship training on Monday. Let the games begin!
What is the moral of this blog post? That I need to start taking pictures and documenting our lives (exactly zero of these photos came from me, and all of them were stolen off of Facebook and blogs). The end.
During Summer 2010, we (roughly in chronological order)...
1. ... went to Utah (twice)! Richard celebrating getting a job by jetting off to Utah (sans wife) in May for a week (well, I did join for an action packed 36 hours later that weekend). In July, we returned to our tribal homeland for an equally action packed week full of family reunioning, fireworking and lots of playing. We also took some family pictures on both sides of the family. I spy, with my little eye... 9 cute cousins who call me Auntie Em, a funny expression on Rich's face and a nephew doing secret sign language...
2. ... went to Reid & Amy's wedding. We were so happy to go to the MacHargs' wedding at 2941 Restaurant in May. Richard and Reid have become good friends through law school, and we loved seeing them tie the knot! Oh, and we were only a taaaaaad bit jealous of their 2-week honeymoon to Bali...
The happy couple!
Reid & Rich
Law school peeps. For some reason, Jake's pose/expression in this picture really cracks me up.
3. ... ran the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in Seattle! In June, I went to Seattle to visit my sister Kristen. I inveigled my other sister Michelle and her baby Caleb to come as well, by telling her I couldn't make it to the family reunion. Later, I showed up anyway (bwa, ha ha!). The main focus of the trip was on Saturday morning when Kristen and I ran the Seattle Rock n Roll half marathon (my 3rd, her 2nd). Unfortunately, Kristen's back was hurting pretty badly during the race, but she still managed to pull through and finish. Way to go, Kristen! (Pictures to come when I get them from Michelle.)
Now we are training for the Richmond FULL Marathon in November... wish us luck!
4. ... attended various book clubs! We decided to declare June a "TV Free Month," complete with a Soup Nazi "No TV For You!!" sign displayed prominently on our TV. This left us with lots of time to read. Luckily, around this time, we co-started a Man's Book Club and a Ladies Book Club with some friends. The menfolk read and discussed The Brothers Karamazov and Bourne Identity over root beer and Costco pizza while we read Hunger Games (AMAZING. DYING FOR MOCKINGJAY TO COME OUT.) and These Is My Words (also amazing) over cookies and fruit. Richard and I also started the very exclusive Peterson book club, which consisted of Anna Karenina (Levin and Kitty make me smile) and Great Expectations (meh).
5. ... hung out at Eaton Square! In our Alexandria Ward, Eaton Square was considered to be "Little Provo" because so many young couples from our church lived there. I also tried to coin it "Little Italy" because the streets are named Milan and Florence, but that never really caught on. Partly for that reason, and partly because they had a pool and we didn't, we hung out there a lot. Incidentally, the Eaton Square equivalent of our new ward is Masonvale (on GMU campus), but we were too cheap to live there. Oh well, at least we have a pool now!
6. ... moved to Fairfax! We made the trek out west in July to be closer to the Fairfax campus for my MA program. We LOVE our new apartment (especially the dishwasher and washer/dryer). Video to come soon! A BIGGGG thanks to Richard's mom who flew out to Virginia for 2 days just to help us move. I think she probably loves us, or something. Richard and I commented several times during and after the move how it probably wouldn't have been possible to complete the move without her. Thanks, Linda!! There are no photos of the move, which is probably a good thing since we didn't shower for several days...
7. ...spent a week in Hoboken! The morning after I finished work, Rich and I hopped on a bus to go to Hoboken. Richard left to go back to work early Monday, but I stayed until the following Saturday to host Auntie Em boot camp for Thurman and Nico. I think Neeks took the term "boot camp" a little literal, as he wanted to run laps for me around the track at the park every day! We had lots of fun eating at Biggies, going to the Liberty Science Museum, hanging out at the water park, Church Street park and the "big" park by the Lincoln Tunnel. On Friday night, Carma treated me to a VERY special show on Broadway called Promises, Promises. Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes together... how could you go wrong?
8. ...got new callings in our new ward! Since there is no paid clergy in our church, members of each congregation are asked, or called, to serve in various positions (scripture study classes, working with the youth, playing the organ, leadership roles like the bishop, etc.). In our old ward in Alexandria, Richard worked with young men in scouting and I worked in the nursery during church services (18 months to 3 years). Well.... I was called again to the nursery, wahoo!! I love getting my baby fix each week. Richard was called to be a ward missionary.
9. ...welcomed a new niece to the family! My sister Jenny had a baby girl on August 6 (their 5th anniversary). We are so excited to meet Courtney Lynn as soon as possible! We now have 13 nieces and nephews.
10. ...got really excited for school to start! Richard actually started his third year of law school yesterday, and I start my graduate assistantship training on Monday. Let the games begin!
What is the moral of this blog post? That I need to start taking pictures and documenting our lives (exactly zero of these photos came from me, and all of them were stolen off of Facebook and blogs). The end.
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