Welcome Home!

Seems we can't escape the "home" topic... but thankfully, this time we're not talking about ours (though maybe we should be spending more time in/on it).

Last night, Chris and I met his dad at the new Nationals' stadium for the pre-home opener exhibition between the Nats and our neighboring (notice I didn't say 'neighborly') rivals, the Baltimore Orioles.

It was a fun (even if chilly) evening spent exploring the new ballpark (and watching the Nats beat the O's) - the consensus was that there are a number of fantastic (i.e. tasty) vendors such as Five Guys, Ben's Chili Bowl, Boardwalk Fries, and Red, Hot, and Blue... but they are all over-priced - though, I contended that it wouldn't be a Major League Baseball park without the inflated prices that, for one thing or another, we all end up succumbing to pay... hey, it's our national past-time, right?

Let's hope the Nats can keep up this (very short... and rare) streak - but either way, we'll keep filling the seats at our city's new park!

Mr. Roger's!

I've never been the "white picket fence" girl - not once do I think my dreams of my future home and family included a house surrounded in white. But, I have always been enamored with the idea of having neighbors who you know and wave to as they pass by on the street, friends in your local community who can walk over to your house easily and who knock on your door to borrow milk or eggs.

In my few short week(s) of being at our house full-time (and in Chris' few months), we are both feeling very lucky to be surrounded by some super friendly, helpful neighbors. Truth be told, if it weren't for our handyman neighbor to the right, our nice new bedding would be set up on a mattress laying on the floor, instead of on a box-spring (read: for Chris' first 3 months in the house, the box spring sat in the living room because it wouldn't fit up the stairs).

While all of the new neighbors are great (Annabelle is loving the attention), one of the very best parts about our neighborhood is that we are only about a 5-minute walk away from some of our closest friends, Andrea and Chris (7-8 houses, but who's counting). You really can't beat being able to walk to see your friends (and their big, humongous flat-screen HDTV).

I take that back - you can beat their HDTV. How? Andrea was SO thoughtful - she surprised us with dinner waiting in our fridge the night we returned from our honeymoon! And a yummy meal at that...

I know one thing for sure - having a meal waiting for us (especially since the frozen pizza that I had planned on welcoming us home had gotten eaten the week prior unbeknownst to me) after our long trip back to DC quickly made it to the top of our wedding present list.

And having had the foresight to throw a few of our new dishes and silverware into the dishwasher a few weeks prior, I think my second favorite part of it all was getting to eat on our pretty white plates with nice, heavy (all-matching!) silverware.

Now THAT is neighborly - I only hope to one day return such a favor!

Our Once in a Lifetime

Home from our wedding and honeymoon!!

What an absolutely amazing two weeks - from the last week of planning and prep before the big day (lots of late nights with my mom - read: wedding planner extraordinaire) to the actual wedding which was just a surreal and incredible day, and then finally, the honeymoon in St. Lucia. Everyone warned me ahead of time that the engagement and wedding day would really fly by, and I swear I believed them and tried to embrace it all, but I still can't believe it's come and gone (though I am so loving being married and looking forward to the years ahead).

My appearances here might be few and far between for the next few weeks as we try to get our lives back in order, or in order at all (not sure it ever WAS!).

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of our past 2 weeks...

Rehearsal dinner video...

March 1, 2008 - our wedding...

And... St. Lucia for our honeymoon...