Snowpocalypse/Snowmageddon/SnOMG

The snow of the decade is upon us. Or so Bob Ryan tells me. And if you live in the greater DC area, you believe Bob Ryan. Besides, there are about 5 inches of snow out there already and it's starting to snow heavier, so there is plenty of evidence to suggest that Bob knows what is going on.

Like a good DC area resident, I headed to the grocery store today to stock up on "necessities." Like a good Old Town resident, I went to Whole Foods. I arrived shortly after the snow had started and the federal government had been released for the day. I learned a few things about humans in snow storms while there.

1 - People like bananas and red onions and will buy the store out of these items before a historic snow storm.

2 - When told there is buy one, get one free shrimp cocktail, people will insist they need four to make it through the weekend.

3 - The store had both milk and bread - but no dark chocolate.

4 - My husband will not be snow bound without chocolate chip cookies.

So what did I get? Spinach (the last package of baby spinach to be precise), salmon, cream cheese, some bubbly, sour dough bread, milk, Annie's mac and cheese, salt and vinegar chips and ginger chews. I hope we make it through the night until the Safeway opens up. We only have two dozen chocolate chip cookies. . .

Still in the Same Place

Soooo, its been a while, right? Lots has happened. A season of Lost come and gone and back again. Jack Bauer saved the Port of Alexandria from terrorists. We attended many, many weddings. A decade ended. I may have turned a very momentous age. All of this and I realized I've lived in (practically) the same place for almost three years. This may not seem like much to some, but to Army/higher ed brats like Andrew and me, well, we haven't really lived in the same place for that long since high school. If you go back to 1997 when I graduated high school, my address book would look something like this (and this is what makes doing background investigation forms for the government so much fun).

Aug 1997 - Princess Diana dies. I move to Kostka Hall, Fairfield.

Dec 1997 - Christmas break in Willimantic

Jan 1998 - Kostka

May 1998 - Willimantic

Sept 1998 - Loyola Hall, Fairfield

Oct 1998 - Regis Hall, Fairfield

Dec 1998 - Willimantic

Jan 1999 - Regis Hall.

March 1999 - UConn Men win their first National Championship.

May - July 1999 - Willimantic, Tijuana, Klaver Hall (Fairfield), Willimantic

Aug 1999 - Townhouse 93, Fairfield. The Triscuit Nacho is born. (Note I remain here for Christmas break).

May 2000 - TH something-something. It was in the corner. By the office of Printing or something.

Aug 2000 - Beach house on Reef Road. Remain for winter break.

May 2001 - Graduate college, sigh. Fairfield kicks me out, return to Willimantic.

Aug 2001 - St. Louis, MO (ever been in St. Louis MO in August? Right.)

Dec 2001 - Willimantic, with cat.

Jan 2002 - St. Louis, MO

May 2002 - Willimantic, with cat who must learn to live with two dogs for the summer.

Aug 2002 - St. Louis, MO

Dec 2002 - Willimantic

Jan 2003 - St. Louis, MO

May 2003 - Savannah, GA. (Remember St. Louis in August? It has nothing on Savannah in May, June, July or August).

Sept 2003 - St. Louis, MO

Dec 2003 - Willimantic (still with cat. Oh, she was in Savannah too.)

Jan 2004 - stop in St. Louis, move to Arlington VA.

Sept 2004 - Willimantic. Stuff in about 3 storage locations.

Jan 2005 - Fort Lee, VA. Followed by Charlottesville, VA (on the grounds, of course.)

April 2005 - Colorado Springs. (Now while my moving tapers off here, remember I
also start a long distance relationship at that time. During this relationship Andrew lives in OK, VA, CA, WA, CA, VA, NC. So while my stuff sometimes stayed put, I definitely never did. The cat usually did.)

July 2007 - Alexandria, VA. (Two different addresses. Eventually moved in with my husband and got a dog.)

Which brings us to today. Everyone under one roof. One very small roof. But we're together and everyone sleeps in the same bed, so I can't ask for too much more. But I have to admit, I'm starting to get a little antsy. But can you really blame me? (PS do not tell the cat.)

Updates

I know its been a while - forgive me. I've been getting used to what being married is really like (seeing your husband every day? Who does that??), as well as planning our "celebration of marriage", not to mention raising a puppy and working. Its been very busy but at the same time fantastic and wonderful to be getting to the mundane things in life that we missed out on during the first 18 months of marriage. I thought you'd like to see how our family is growing - check out these "portraits" we had done with a local photographer (whose work I highly recommend if you are in the DC area!).

I'll try to be better about updating the blog, but for now know that life is wonderfully normal.

Is It Too Late to Amend My Christmas List?

Just in time for the holidays, Chris Cooley (and brother Tanner) come through on their promise to have women's cut authentic Chris Cooley jersey's in his online store. He even went one better and is autographing them. Available in home white or away burgundy. I know. Awesomeness. While I do not read any other NFL player's blogs (and therefore have little to compare it to beside the NFL United Way commercials on every Sunday), I continue to be inspired and impressed by Chris Cooley's dedication to give back to the community. If you have the chance to look back over his blog from the past couple weeks, you'll see him talk about participating in the Redskins food drive for Thanksgiving (which the whole team helped at, I believe) as well as the day for breast cancer survivors he put together at Redskins Park. They are all cute blog posts. So even though the Skins season may not have turned out the way we had all hoped - I think Cooley's blog helps to remind us that there are (sometimes) more important things than winning football games.

Long Time No See

I know its been over a month since I posted - we've been busy. After my last post, we had a housewarming party, I turned 29, we traveled to Berkeley to see old friends, we traveled to Manassas to eat lots of turkey, we watched the Redskins lose more games than anyone thought they could, we taught the dog to shake and roll over, well, the list goes on. We're getting ready to travel to CT for Christmas - with the puppy (who is five months old now!) and preparing for multiple Christmas events. I'm not complaining, it has been a crazy busy two months, but my husband is home and we are spending all our holidays together - a first! Also a first, he will spend a holiday with my family, which is a great thrill to the Doyle side. I am more than anything looking forward to starting the new year - a full year with my husband and puppy and kitty, a full year where we are not counting down to something or dreading a date arriving or fearing that a date will never arrive. We're just living our lives and having a fantastic time - even when the puppy wakes up at 4:30am.

Happy Veterans' Day!

A few days late, but this slideshow is worth taking a look at - its a nice collage of who Veterans are, without being too overly cheesy.

Our Growing Family

Here is the newest addition to our family - Calhoun Krzyzewski Exnicios. We call him Calhoun, or Cal. He is a sweet, sweet puppy who is about 4 months old. He is a Beagle, with what we think might be some Jack Russell, but we're not sure. He is from the Northern Virginian beagle rescue, BREW (Beagle Rescue, Education and Welfare). Big sister Bailey is still adjusting, but is being a good girl and we are all getting used to being one big(ger) family.

We hope you have the chance to meet Calhoun soon!