Ol' Crazy Eyes

Ben and I went to the eye doctor today and they dilated our pupils. Now it is after 5:00pm and our appointments were at 1:30pm and yet our pupils are still crazy dilated. We needed to go to the grocery store but we are procrastinating so as to not ensue suspicion that we are high on some kind of illegal substances.

Can't wait until I can see clear again. :)

Happy Half a Year!

I am happy to report that Ben and I have made it through a half a year of marriage! Whoo hoo! I am a little embarrassed to say that I lost track of the dates. I didn't realize yesterday was the 24th, otherwise I would have posted this yesterday.
I know that 6 months isn't much, but for someone who has never been married, it's a big milestone :). Anyways, just thought I would share on our happy "anniversity" (plus 1 day).

Hope everyone has a happy week!

How cute are my cousins?

I came across this picture from the wedding of Caleb and Sebastian cuttin' a rug at the reception. I thought it was cute. Enjoy!

Peppermint Penguins aka Froggy Swamp Muck

The last night Sara was here (Friday night) she was able to leave the conference early enough to come have dinner with us at the apartment. So after a long week for Sara she was able to relax for a little bit. Most nights she wasn't back until 10:30 or 11:00. She called me at about 5:30 to let me know that she was leaving the conference and if we hadn't eaten dinner that she maybe could eat with us. And of course with traffic around here at that time it took her almost 2 hours to get from the hotel to our apartment.

But it all worked out, and we had a spaghetti dinner with killer garlic bread and a salad. And we watched some TV and just relaxed. Ben made us all peppermint penguin drinks. They look gross (the first picture) but they taste yummy. We nick-named them Froggy Swamp Muck because that's pretty much what they look like.

It was really nice having a full "house" for so long. Aida certainly enjoyed the extra bodies in the apartment. She definitely used everybody as her personal toy throwers. And she's so cute you can't help but play with her.

We are looking forward to coming back in less than two weeks for my birthday. Hopefully the weather holds out back in Ohio and here. So we will be seeing you all soon!!

Lunar Eclipse of 2008

This first picture is towards the beginning of tonight's Lunar Eclipse.

This picture is about the time when the entire moon was eclipsed by the earth's shadow. Just the top right portion of the moon is still slightly exposed. You can also see the star Regulus, the brightest star in the constellation Leo, in the bottom left corner. Pretty neat.

Ben and I had fun watching the Eclipse. We made hot chocolate in our cool hot cocoa maker that I got from Nathan for Christmas. And i sat with a wide open window, drinking hot cocoa, taking pictures until my camera's batteries died.

Enjoy! :)

The Hotel 'A La' Ben and Stephanie

Matt and Cat came to visit us this past weekend. We had so much fun. We made some new drinks (Peppermint Penguin) and some old favorites (Dirty Banana)...all were a big hit. We went out to eat at Cheeburger Cheeburger for lunch on Sunday. It is a fun restaurant based on the SNL skit. They have something like 70 different flavors of milkshakes, good burgers and salads. Then for dinner we tried a new restaurant called Ted's Montana Grill. Ben and Matt apparently turned into bandits from the wild west at some point during the dinner (see the third picture down). And Aida made a friend for life with Cat. Aida really liked Cat and Matt. She definitely didn't want them to leave this morning. After they had left, Aida just wandered around the apartment for awhile.

Overall it was a nice visit. We hope they come back again soon. I don't think I have laughed as much in a long time as I had this past weekend.

Sara is coming to stay with us this week because she has a conference in DC. So Sara should be arriving a little later today. It's nice to have so many visitors one after the other. And one of Sara's friends is staying with us also because of the conference...just for one night though.

The Hotel A La Ben and Stephanie...Come anytime. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ben worked on Valentine's Day this year so we didn't really do anything to celebrate. Friday I went to the grocery store and bought myself Valentine's flowers (the bottom two pictures). But when Ben got back from his running around that morning, he came back with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me. He wanted to get red roses and mango calla lillies since those were the main flowers in my wedding bouquet. I thought that was sweet. :)

What a Deal!

As many of you probably know, Ben and I have started looking at houses this past week. We started our home search online on realtor.com and from there contacted a realtor in the area who has given us a few more prospects. Despite the pushy world of realty, this realtor is actually quite nice and wasn't pushy at all, nor did she try to push beyond our "budget" price. Our biggest issue so far has been that of sticker-shock. Coming from Ohio, our views on a reasonably priced house lie somewhere in the vicinity of $125,000, or less, for a starter home. Here, we have yet to see a house priced in the $100Ks. And believe me, we aren't looking at huge new homes (well, I have, but just for fun)...we are trying to look at smaller homes but with a little bit of land-along the lines of 1/2 an acre or possibly more. Unfortunately there is nothing that would be deemed reasonable. Here is an example of a listing in Sterling, VA, around where we live now:

"Attention investors and handyman, 3 FIN LVLS. Cherry cabinets in kitchen. Home backs to woods. Anderson windows. Huge deck. Extensive water damage to basement and 1/2 of the first level. THERE IS MOLD IN THE HOME, The BANK MAKES NO WARRANTY AND IS NOT LIABLE FOR THE POTENTIALLY HARMFUL EFFECTS THEREOF, but the home is priced accordingly. GREAT BUY!"

Ready for the sticker price on this house of death? $350,000. And no I am not kidding. The lot is less than a quarter-acre. What a deal.
After we reluctantly passed up on this dream home, Ben and I looked out more towards the mountains in Round Hill, Va. We were mostly dissappointed. Although the houses looked nice and were a little lower priced, they were in newer crammed developments and the town center consisted of an old mini-mart. There wasn't even a gas station. Of course we don't have to buy a house right now (good thing) but we are still looking around. We found a few houses we are interested in up in Maryland. They are about an hour from Ben's work, but are slightly more reasonable, emphasis on slightly. But a big plus is they are about an hour closer to Ohio. :)
Like i said, we are just looking right now...I don't actually see us buying a house anytime real soon, unless someone is practically giving away their house. Yeah, that's not going to happen.

*Splish, Splash*

Ben and I took Aida to "Bark N Bubbles" to give her a bath. You can either have them wash her, or to save a few bucks, you can wash the dog yourself. So we decided to wash her ourselves. They provide towels, brushes, shampoo, conditioner and a dryer. And we decided to get her a "blueberry facial." Now, before you freak out that we got our dog a facial hear me out. We didn't have to pay for it because there was a coupon online for a free one. And there isn't much to it. The "facial" is really just a face wash with a blueberry base. It has vitamins and coconut oil and is tearless. To be honest, I really think it made a difference. Aida's face is super soft and shiny. Overall she smells really good and is shiny all over.

On a side note: I feel really bad for all the times we took Aida to the groomers to have them bathe her. She was a spaz! She fought us when we first got her in the tub and especially when the water turned on. She was practically choking herself trying to crawl out of the tub. But once we started scrubing the shampoo on her she calmed down. Every once in awhile she would shake and get us both soaking wet. All in all it was a fun time.

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped at a Barber shop so Ben could get his hair cut. He had never gone to this shop before and it turned out that he really liked the barber and his cut. So all around it was a grooming day...except for me. :)

Does anybody have a mint?

Aida's breath has been pretty ripe, to say the least, lately. So in our recent trip to Target we strolled down the pet aisle and came across a doggie toothbrush kit. We bought it out of necessity. Our sense of smell needed a break. So here are a couple pictures of me brushing Aida's teeth with the finger brush. Surprisingly she didn't mind it.

Make fun of us if you want, but you don't live with Aida and her dragon-breath. :)

Let it Snow...just for today

On Thursday we had our first big snow of the season. So we figured Aida would like to go out and play. The snow was perfect to pack into snowballs. We took Aida out on her leash, but let her run around without holding onto her. She did really well and would jump to catch any snowballs we would throw at her. It was fun. The snow started to melt today so hopefully there won't be a relapse of snowfall as the residents of Virginia do not know how to drive in the snow. In fact the complex was not plowing the street, they were snow-blowing it...yes, snow-blowing. Later on a plow did come through, but I found it very funny to see someone using a little snow-blower on the road by our apartment.

Watch for falling forks...

Due to my previous battle with a knife versus my thumb with the knife prevailing, I have since used more caution in the kitchen. I have been using the cutting board when I use knives, and potholders when I pull things out of the oven. Although I occasionally, accidentally, burn my fingers or arm...the typical casualties of cooking.
Today I learned another kitchen lesson. Don't cook without shoes on. While that may not be a rule that everyone needs to abide by, I find it very important...and so does my toe. Today I was fixing my plate of dinner that Ben made for me (delicious), and as I tried to pick up a piece of chicken with my fork, the fork slipped, the fork fell, and wouldn't you know it...it fell right on the toe next to the big toe. It left a nice puncture hole right below the cuticle. So now that I have suffered a "holey" foot...heed my advice...wear shoes in the kitchen.

Some Random Pictures

The top picture: Ben put a hot water bottle on Aida as she was sprawled, belly side up, on the floor. And to our surprise, she left it there for a while!

Middle picture: Ben used one of his Christmas toys from Mom and Dad for the first time. He's such a handy man.

Bottom picture: This is the church we went to on Christmas. It is beautiful on the inside (and outside). But we didn't particularly care for the priest. But we are going to give it another shot. :)

Just thought I would post these pictures for fun.

Enjoying the Weather

Ben and I took Aida out for a walk today (after the tick incident). We found a walkway around a residential neighborhood nearby. It was a really nice walk, and Aida was pooped after her almost 2.5 mile walk. As a matter of fact she is fast-asleep as I type.
And notice, Ben and I are supporting the Ohio State Buckeyes!! Go Bucks!

An Arm and a Leg

Today started off a bit rocky. Ben and I were supposed to have some workers coming in to fix our two bathroom tubs because the water doesn't get hot...just warm. I have resulted to taking baths by getting hot water from the bathroom sink with a teapot and pouring it into the lukewarm water in the tub....yeah pathetic I know. But my body thermometer is broken so I get too cold with just lukewarm water. Oh well. Anyways we made sure to get up early so as to not be in bed when the workers got there and also so we could get an early start on taking Aida on a walk while the workers were here. We haven't technically registered that we have a dog so we don't have to pay the $30 per month rent for her. Ben took her out for her morning bathroom break and to give her a little extra time outside he walked her along the trees that line the complex's property. As we were eating our breakfast, I reached down to pet Aida and saw some little red fuzz on her head. When I was about to pick it off of her, I realized it had legs. And then I realized it was a tick. Well, that was gross. But the good thing was that it wasn't attached. I then remembered that unlike Ohio, pets should have heartworm, flea and tick medicine year round in Virginia because of the warmer weather (it was 70 degrees today).
I called a vet that I found online to find out what I was supposed to do since I haven't been giving her the preventative medicine. They said I should bring her in and that I could get more of the medicine.
So we took her to this vet. It looked like a hole in the wall from the outside but we figured we could at least get her the medicine if nothing else. The receptionist was very nice and the vet himself seemed nice although not very personable. He talked with us about the Lime disease vaccination and other vaccinations that we should get. He was being a salesman of the vaccines. And then we find out they don't even carry the medicine we use for her, so he tried to sell me something else. Overall, I said I would think about the medicine and vaccines he was suggesting and we walked out with paying $55 for an office visit.....an arm and a leg. He did nothing just talked to us. He barely even looked at Aida, not even a pat on the head. And for a vet not to say how cute she is...that's just wrong!
It's been a fun day. We are currently looking for another vet.

Happy New Year!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 2008!

Merry Ho Ho #2

Ben and I had so much fun coming back to see everyone. Coming back to the empty apartment was sad. But we hope to come back soon. Here are some pictures from the second Christmas...

From Top to Bottom:

1. Mom and Dad with Owen (Ben and my Godson!!!!!!)

2. Ben and I with my favorite brothers

3. Aunt Martha catches Wii fever :)

4. Nate enjoys a beer while Mom and Dad play tennis on the Wii

Love you all.

The DVDs are home

I forgot to post these pictures of the B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L dvd cabinet we received from Aunt Martha and Uncle Larry for Christmas. Uncle Larry made this cabinet for us. He's so talented. :) Our DVDs are very happy in their new home. Thanks again Uncle Larry and Aunt Martha!

Look Ma, I Can Cook!

The turkey turned out really well. Ben certainly enjoyed it. He carved nice THICK slices. :) We used our china for the first time. We wish that there were some other family members here to enjoy the delicious dinner with us, but at least we know that I can make turkey now. :) And our drink of choice was a great year white grape juice. My favorite.

More Christmas Pictures

Top Picture: Aida with her Christmas bagel bone. That was devoured in 5 minutes flat. :)
Next Picture: Me with the stocking that my hubby got me :)

Next Picture: Ben and his new studly looking robe from his favorite wife.

Bottom Picture: Ben putting on the stocking that i made him. It's not meant to be worn! The stocking isn't perfect, but it was made with a lot of pricked fingers and time. :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Ben and I had a great First Christmas morning with each other. Ben got off work at 6:00AM and was back to the apartment by 6:30. We opened presents, ate bubble bread and played with Aida and her new toy (a can of tennis balls). Overall our Christmas has been a success, we made it to church on time and got the turkey in the oven.....hopefully it will turn out well....we'll see. :)

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and we are looking forward to coming back in a couple days. Love you all!

The Proud Papa

I took this picture the other day and thought it was rather cute. Ben really likes his girl. :)

Aida's 1st Birthday!

I didn't have a party or anything for Aida, but Ben and I had gotten her some special doggie cookies at the Wylie Wagg store. They were small cookies with blue icing and a icing snowflake on them. I think Aida quite enjoyed them. I did make her "sit" and "stay" before i let her eat it. So in the first picture she is intently staring at the cookie that I made her wait to take until I could take a picture.

So basically we spent the day relaxing (picture #2) and playing with her toys. I did take her out for a short walk around the complex but it had been raining all day, so we didn't make the walk long.

Overall, i would say she had a pretty happy birthday. :)

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Nathan,
Happy Birthday to you!!!!!

Just wanted to wish Nathan a Happy Birthday! :)

Ok this is it for tonight!

These were some pictures that i forgot to post throughout my posting frenzy tonight...The top one is of the Nativity set that Aunt Debbi and Uncle Jim got us for our wedding. It sits right next to our tree. The second picture is of me unpacking kitchen things when we first moved in...fun times. And the last picture is of Aida. Her new favorite place to sleep, hide and play is underneath our bed. When we tell her she has to go to her Kennel she hides under the bed, right in the middle, so we can't reach her. She's a tricky one.

Well I hope this made up for the fact that I haven't posted in the last week or so. Now that we have our great new computer set up it's much easier to use rather than fighting Ben's old laptop to just turn on.

Love everyone, and miss everyone.