Allison & Kevin's Blog

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-19T20:17:00.000-08:00

Since we are going to be in the DR over Thanksgiving, we celebrated with my parents the week before. yum!!!

Eric & Karin got engaged!

2009-11-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

and we had a fun time celebrating their engagement with a night out in Old Town - drinks at Chart House, champagne and dinner at Jackson 20, & music and coffee at Tiffany Tavern.

Our 4th Anniversary!

2009-11-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

On Nov. 5th we celebrated our 4th anniversary! Kevin bought me some really beautiful flowers, which I took with us so I could enjoy them when we went away for the weekend. We stayed at a B&B in Roanoke, VA - it was SO nice to get away & just relax together. They have a great art scene & we REALLY loved the new Taubman Museum of Art and their Pae White exhibit blew our minds!

Isabela is born!

2009-11-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

Sheryl and Joey's baby, Isabela, is born and we get to meet her at Morgan's dad's birthday!

Halloween

2009-10-31T19:18:00.000-07:00

Halloween this year we went as Courtney Love & Kurt Cobain. We started the night at Art Outlet's Ofrenda event - which had some cool art installations & an AWESOME trapeze artist! Then we went downtown to an awesome costume party with some friends!

Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

2009-10-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Lisa & Brian's annual pumpkin carving party was a lot of fun!

Braxton comes to visit

2009-10-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

Our SUPER cute nephew!

Fall Races

2009-10-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

The fall was (like always) full of races. This year Kevin didn't run in any, but we did go to cheer his dad in the Army 10 Miler & his dad, sister and her husband in the Marin Corp Marathon!

Party Like It's 1999...

2009-09-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

That's right....time for our 10 year high school reunions! Kevin's was in Bahrain so we didn't get to go :( However we did go to mine and it was a lot of fun catching up with old friends! Go Robinson Rams! I think Kevin had a pretty good time hanging with the spouses :)

Kevin's Birthday Fiesta!

2009-08-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

We had a really great Mexican themed fiesta for Kevin's 28th! We had a lot of awesome food (thanks everyone for bringing stuff!) and we even had a Mexican 'thumb' wrestling tournament and fake mustaches :)

Elementary!

2009-08-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

Went to see our friend Steve's band Elementary play at Rock'n Roll Hotel in DC - apparently after we left the cast from Real World DC showed up - although now that I've seen some of that season I think I'm glad we didn't stick around. Steve's band was awesome though!

Welcome home Eric!!!

2009-08-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

Eric finally comes home from Afghanistan!

Lisa's bday!

2009-07-31T18:34:00.000-07:00

havin' some fun at Lisa's 49th birthday!

2009 House Guests!

2009-07-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

This past year we had a lot of friends come visit us at our new place. Brent & Erin came with baby Ander and stayed with us for a week while Brent was at a work conference up here. Matt & David came for a visit (and we even got to sit next to Arnold Schwarzanegger when we ate at Clyde's in Georgetown). Jason & Gray came and we did some site seeing - 2 of my favorites, the modern art gallery of the National Portrait Gallery and the Jefferson Memorial. Oh and of course many visits from Ralphy the dog :)

Artomatic 2009

2009-05-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

Having some fun at the Artomatic opening on Friday - the gallery installed our "handmade garden" there all made from recycled materials (orginally installed/built by the community at the Torpedo Factory & then transferred to this years Artomatic).

Farewell Susannah!

2009-05-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

Mary hosted a cocktails & sparkles party in honor of Susannah...who is leaving us to move to Raleigh...but I think she will be back :)

Jail, Bail & Cocktails!

2009-05-13T18:59:00.001-07:00

this month I have been raising money for the Greater Washington Area's Muscular Dystrophy Association. On May 20th we (myself & 2 friends from work Mary & Tara) are being "arrested" and taken to "jail" and fed "bread and water" which is really lunch at La Portas. We have to raise our "bail money" in order to get out of jail! The goal is to raise $3000 & all of the money goes to benefit MDA!

Here are some pics from our fundraiser that we had last week...

Allison's Birthday

2009-05-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my 28th birthday Kentucky Derby style. A lot of friends came out & it was a lot of fun (oh and mint juleps may look pretty, but they taste awful!)

Claire's Big Race

2009-05-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

Bagels & Mimosa's EARLY Sunday morning - check

Tacky head gear & beads - check

Cool poster made by moi - check

Claire Rockin her first 10 miler - priceless

Messiah Ladies

2009-04-29T18:38:00.000-07:00

Catching up with my girls (and our men) that I grew up going to church with. We had a great dinner at Mike's in Springfield. Lauren, Allison & Myself all have birthdays around the same time so heather made each of us these awesome pink strawberry cupcakes!

Inside all of us is a Wild Thing!

2009-04-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you know this, but one of my very favorite authors is Dave Eggers - he has written several books - and if you haven't read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, then I highly recommend it! We went to see him speak at George Mason's Fall for the Book Festival a few years back, with our friend and fellow Eggers fan Eric, right before the book What is the What came out (seriously - must read these books, and also You Shall Know Our Velocity.)

Okay, all that said, my point is - Where the Wild Things Are, is about come out, directed by Spike Jonze - and it seriously looks so wonderful - and I am SO elated that the screenplay was co-written Dave Eggers. And to make things even better - Eggers is writing a full length adult novel to correspond with the kids book called Wild Things.

YAY is all that can be said!

also - the soundtrack looks to be great - thanks to Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!

Twilight Obsession

2009-04-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

so...I am coming clean...finally admitting to it

I read all 4 of the Twilight books in 1 week and I really loved them. I mean these books are not something I would usually pick up or even think twice about reading. Kevin and I had been boycotting the movie, but one night we decided to curl up and get a movie on OnDemand, Twilight was one of the only new ones...and we both actually liked it.

So I had a gift card to Barnes and Noble and spent a long time just browsing, enjoying an evening among books while Kevin had to work late. I picked up 2 already - Michael Chabons newest one, Gentlemen of the Road. The other book is Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

I was about head out when I saw a display in the front for the Twilight books - I grabbed the first one on a whim. We had 2 friends staying with us, Brent & Erin and their baby Ander - so I thought that I would read Twilight first b/c it would be light and I wouldn't become too absorbed...umm I was totally wrong. I read the first one in 2 days, and then had to go back and get the next ones, one after the other, and 3000 pages later I was done. Kevin said I was completely obsessed and consumed by the books - and he is probably right :)

well...that's all i have to say about that. Oh and I snagged this great pic from a friends facebook page (her book club was reading them as well) - oh and now I can not wait to see the next movie, New Moon, which comes out in November (and yes I do feel like a 15 year old)

A nice long weekend

2009-03-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

I took a 3 day weekend (was going to be 4 days but I really need to go in tomorrow and help with installing the Reclaimed Exhibit). Friday I went on a little shopping trip to Ikea - met Morgan & Corbin or lunch in the cafe, then we spent several hours in search of items to help organize out tiny house... skinny indoor bin for recycling-check, Grundtal Stainless shelves for kitchen-check, shower curtain and hooks for basement bathroom-check, pull out bins and extra clothes polls for our closet-check...oh and of course Swedish fish to snack on :)

Speaking of Swedish Fish...look at this hilarious image I found...

Friday night we went to dinner with Kevin's family to celebrate Jen (our sister inlaws) birthday. Amy & Matt and our new nephew Braxton were in town and we had a great dinner at Lebanese Taverna at Pentagon Row.

Saturday we made an attempt to hang our beautiful pendant lamp in the living room. We took down the ceiling fan and installed the pendant, but when we turned the breaker back on we heard a really loud POP! not sure what it was, but we took the light back off and now the fan part and pendant are all around the dining room and waiting on anelectrician. We did get the Grundtal shelves up, a mirror in the living room, futon that Morgan gave us for the basement, etc.

And now I am sitting on the couch enjoying having the windows open - the weather is just perfect! Our Magnolia tree is in full bloom with huge pink flowers - and I'm sad to think that they are only going to last a few weeks more, but we are enjoying Spring so far!

Hem Song

2009-03-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the Liberty Mutual commercial - a person sees another person do a simple, good deed and he then in turn does a kind act to some other stranger, the whole "pay it forward" trend. Well the most recent on has a Hem song playing in the background. If you haven't heard Hem you really should - so beautiful & a bit haunting. Anyways, here is a video of the song playing in the commercial, Half Acre...

To Twitter or not to Twitter....

2009-03-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

So I've been feeling the pressure to join twitter from some work friends. One friend sent me a great social networking article and it kind of sold me...I have it in my work email so I'll update this post with a link to it tomorrow.

So, this is me... http://twitter.com/AllisonNance
let me know if you are on there too so we can, you know, "follow each other"

Meniscus Trouble...Oh NO!

2009-03-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

I went to visit Dr. Rabbit-yes that his real name :) today and an Xray & Cortisone shot later = a scheduled MRI for Saturday & SURGERY very soon! Yikes - I fell twice in the ice 2 winters ago & had my knee checked out then but there was no tear at the time. About 3 weeks ago I started having intense knee pain on and off. My friend Tara recommended Dr. Rabbit (who is excellent). So after a very large shot this morning into the knee, I am now wearing a Patella Knee Brace and hobbling a little but :(

here is a bit about the Meniscus...

How do I know my meniscus is torn?
Most tears of the meniscus lead to knee pain in the area of the tear, on the inside or outside of the knee. Swelling of the knee may also occur. Occasionally, locking of the knee can occur, when the meniscus gets wedged inside the knee. Pain and instability caused by the meniscus tear can also cause the knee to buckle or “give way”. Twisting activities usually worsen the symptoms.

Saint Patricks Day

2009-03-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Claire & Pat!
St. Patty's was a busy, busy day. We had a short exhibition to install (High school Mentor Program - 1 week). We had a big Cake party to celebrate Claire's birthday & Pat Monk's birthday (88 wahoo!) Kevin met me at work and we all walked over to O'Connel's where we were on the "List"(Thanks Collin - Erin, who I work with, is engaged to Colin who is the head chef at O'Connell's). We had a lot of fun and then we strolled over to Chadwicks for Birthday dinner for Claire!

Reclaimed Public Art Installation

2009-03-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

In conjunction with our Reclaimed Exhibition, the Target Gallery is hosting a site specific installation project that will be installed in the main hall of the Torpedo Factory on the night of the Reclaimed Reception, April 9th (during 2nd Thursday Art Night). The public is welcome and encouraged to participate in the building of this "handmade garden" installation which will include a large tree, garden wall & flowers - all made from RECYCLED objects!

Below is a list of the recycled objects that we will be collecting from now until April 8th. Please bring your donations to Target Gallery committee member Lisa Schumaier in Studio 16 (first floor of the Torpedo Factory, across from the Art League Gallery). If you have any question please contact the gallery.

Recycled Supplies needed
1. Chicken wire
2. tin cans, any size, open on both ends.
3. bottle caps
4. little tabs off soda cans
5. metal paper clips
6. used dried coffee grounds
7. big green straws from starbucks used and rinsed

Majora Carter & The Promised Land

2009-03-16T08:58:00.001-07:00

I while back I was watching The Green on the Sundance Channel- this episode was featuring Majora Carter who ran/founded a non profit called Sustainable South Bronx - "where she pioneered green-collar job training and placement systems in one of the most environmentally and economically challenged parts of the US." The episode I watched was her personal story about installing a "green roof" on top of her row home in the Bronx. I love this idea (and would LOVE to see this happen on the top of my work's building). She is really a dynamic person & you should check out her website - or the The Promise Land, the radio show she hosts.

All the Single Ladies...

2009-03-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

Kevin went out of town this weekend, so I was a single lady for the weekend! Kevin went down to NC to see our sweet nephew Braxton, but I had a work reception on Sunday so I stayed home - first time sleeping apart since we were married in 2005 (except 1 night that I stayed at a friends for a bachelorette sleep over).

Saturday I had a great time with the girls from work. Claire, Mary & I went to see a total girls movie - He's Just Not That Into You. I had been avoiding seeing this movie b/c I just didn't think it was going to be that good, so I went into it with low expectations - and it was actually very good. We all really enjoyed it, and Ginnifer Goodwin was so cute in it.

Afterwards we met with Tara (another work friend) for drinks at No. 9 Lounge, the upstairs bar at Evening Star. It was a really great girls night - and fun to spend time with the ladies away from work.

an ode to the cadet cabinet...

2009-03-11T18:44:00.001-07:00

so as some of you have heard, we have a teeny tiny kitchen. very small. no drawers. 5' tall fridge. no space for pots and pans, or anything else that goes in a kitchen - like silverware. Mary, my friend (and boss) has the same house we do about 1/2 a mile a way. her kitchen has about 4 inches more room (wide) than ours b/c of the way our electrical has been set up.

Well, I was over at her place on Monday, and she has bought the perfect cabinet/pantry from cb2, a modern spin off from Crate & Barrel - and when I saw it I was in love. Not because it is so beautiful, or my ideal piece of furniture, but I was euphoric at the thought of having a little storage in my kitchen. Somewhere I could store all of our food which would then make room for all of our kitchen goods that are in 2 cardboard boxes at the bottom of the basement stairs (ugh).

Well when I came home Kevin and I hopped online and pulled up the measurements. We got out our trusty tape measure (which as a new home owner knows, we must always have this on hand) and got ourselves all excited at the prospect of precious storage. oh, well then disappointment set in when we realized that those 4 inches that Mary has in her kitchen...four inches we don't have...makes the Cadet cabinet slightly too big. I have to admit this small set back made me feel defeated at first...well more than "at first" I dwelled on it for a few days, and now I'm writing this ridiculously long blog. But I am determined to find the perfect solution to our tiny kitchen (until I can knock out that pesky load bearing wall between the dining room and kitchen). If you have a tiny kitchen and can give me some insight, I would love to hear it :)

Through Painted Deserts

2009-03-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller. I read another one of his books, Blue Like Jazz, a while back and really loved it. I'm really enjoying Through Painted Deserts - his style of writing is so easy to get into and really allows you to get absorbed into his world & experiences.

Kevin is reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. This is the same author as The Omnivore's Dilema. If you love to talk about food politics as much as Kevin does, then you must read these books.

Garden Time...a growing challenge

2009-03-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Check out 1 Green Generation

I posted a link to this site a few posts back, but I didn't really blog about it. We're not taking the seed2seed challenge this year - I dont think - b/c we only just this weekend cleared out the garden beds and haven't really planned what we are going to plant yet. However, we are really interested in this and thought maybe you all would be too, and this i a good site to poke around.

I particularly enjoy reading the living locally section - especially the 10 steps to "living locally." Hope you'll read it and enjoy it too.

"We are so used to saying ‘if I can’t get it here, I can get it somewhere else’ but what if you just made your choice more often from what is available where you are?”

[Living locally is] “getting into a mindset where the first place you look for everything you need is from your own back yard (figuratively) outward. I think it’s about being present in your own community…. I think settling down enough to say ‘this is where I am, how I can I help make it better than it’s ever been’ is integral to living locally.”

Spring!

2009-03-08T14:09:00.000-07:00

Old Town is bustling today with this warm weather! I took yesterday off and so I'm in the gallery today. I popped out for some coffee (iced pike roast with room, one pump vanilla, and a splash of milk - my first iced coffee of the season). There was a bluegrass band on the corner of Union & King right outside the Torpedo Factory doors. People and their dogs of course were everywhere (Old Town is a certainly a dog lovers place). The man with the bird rescue is out on the docks with his parrots. I can't believe last week Alison Sigethy (an artist at the TF) and some Alexandria locals were out on the dock building a snow man & a snow puppy). Yesterday was the annual St.Patricks parade - we missed it though b/c we were working on our first garden (first real one - we had some pots and window boxes in out condo but that doesnt count)

Alexandria is a great place to live - and Old Town is an inspiring place to work. When I worked in Tysons it was a bit stifling - lots of traffic, lots of office buildings, lots of corporate America. Living there was fun bc we were right on the border of Falls Church - great restaurants & the mall was close so it was nice being able to just pop over to the mall without it being a big ordeal. But we really are adjusting to living in Alexandria. Del Ray has that great small town vibe, with an inviting Avenue of shops a cafes, and we are so close to the DC city line that it's easy to get out to a gallery opening, go see some live music, try a new restaurant.

Friday we had a very fun double date with our friends Eric & Karin. We met at Rustico for dinner - amazing americana food, wood grilled pizzas, hundreds of beers. I am so not a beer person but after sampling the raspberry beer - I had to order one. We got to hear all about their trip to Venice during Carnevale. Yes I am jealous! They then came over to see the new place, and we then went to get coffee and dessert at Evening Star. It was such a nice evening. I've been consumed with work lately (it seems) and this was a nice distraction and time spent with kevin and friends recharged my battery.

Spring?

2009-03-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

what a beautiful day - 70 degrees and sunny! We can only hope that this weather is here to stay. We spent the day clearing out our flower beds in the back yard - they were a mess with all kinds of random plants we inherited when we purchased this house.

They look great now & we even had a few nice surprises - daffodils, hostases, morning glories, and tulips - oh and one mystery plant that looks nice so far. We also set up our rain barrel that I got for Kevin for Christmas. Here's to a wonderful start to such a pleasant season!

Trust Me

2009-03-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

Have you seen this new show? I really like it...good cast, Monica Potter's character is so quirky - I recommend watching.

Praying for baby Jonah - Please join us!

2009-03-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

Our friends Patrice and Matt William's, (many of you know our friends Peyton & Amy Crump - Patrice is Peyton's sister), had their baby boy Jonah on the 27th. Please pray for the health of little Jonah & his parents b/c Jonah is believed to have Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB, a rare genetic disease that basically allows the top layer of skin to move independently from the under layer = blister's similar to severe burns, infections, intestinal blockage, etc. They have done a biopsy to determine the type of EB he might have, but it will take 3 weeks to get the results. There is an excerpt from Patrice's blog below. You can also link to her blog here or join the facebook Prayer group & spread the word!

"He is 99% sure that Jonah has a genetic disorder called Epidermolysis Bullosa. He said he sees one case every other year. There are two degrees of this: severe and mild. The doctor said from looking at Jonah's lesions, he guesses he has the severe version. A biopsy will be done (I'm not sure when) to determine his severity level. If this is what he has, it affects three things: his skin, his mucus membranes, and his intestines. The two things that doctors worry about the most are infection (because he doesn't have much of his outer skin to protect him) and intestinal blockage from the sluffing of the intestines (similar to what his skin is doing). At this point, Jonah is on three sets of antibiotics, pain medication, and a sugar water drip. He does not seem to have intestinal blockage at this point. If he were to develop that, he will need surgery."

The Watson Twins & Ben Kweller

2009-02-27T13:40:00.001-08:00

For Valentines day Kevin got us tickets to go see The Watson Twins (whom I LOVE) and Ben Kweller. The show was last night at 9:30 club. It was really great! Always interesting when you go to a show for the opening band. There were SO many girls (and guys for that matter) going NUTS for Ben Kweller. He is good and I like his music, but I probably wouldn't buy any of his albums. However, this guy is just so nice and happy and energetic - you can't help but smile and sing along.

Also, the opening opening band was Jones Street Station - they are super talented and I can see them getting more popular very soon.

We forgot our camera (boo) but everyone should def. check out The Watson Twins - in 2006 the did a joint album with Jenny Lewis (from Riley Kiley) which is a superb album!

Baby Braxton

2009-02-25T18:47:00.000-08:00

meet our new (and first) nephew Braxton Caleb Ketterman

New! The Growing Challenge Advanced Edition – From Seed To Seed!

2009-02-25T18:23:00.001-08:00

New! The Growing Challenge Advanced Edition – From Seed To Seed!

Posted using ShareThis

Happy Valentines Weekend!

2009-02-13T12:24:00.001-08:00

Now I know so many people say they don't like Valentines day and that it is just another "Hallmark Holiday" - but I will say that I love any holiday/event that is all about celebrating love and how blessed we are to be loved and to have people to love and care about - not just that significant other, but friends and family as well! We hope everyone has a love filled weekend!

FInally - the new house!

2009-02-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

Share the Love contest

2009-01-26T12:49:00.001-08:00

great idea...

Share the Love contest at Indie Fixx

2009 calendar

2009-01-23T18:50:00.000-08:00

so first i would like to say that after reading some of my previous posts (pre Christmas) - I am a liar. No pics of the new house yet. We have some of a New Years party but you can't see very much. We are cleaning & unpacking the spare room this week, so maybe after that we will post some pics.

Anyways, I am very excited about my new calendar by Camilla Engman - check out how very pretty it is :)

Christmas 2008

2008-12-30T10:27:00.001-08:00

Christmas Letter - for those of you who we didn't mail one too :)

2008-12-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

Dear Family & Friends

We hope this letter finds you all doing well and in good health. We have had a big year, including a new job, an amazing trip to a tropical island, some very good news, and one great, big purchase – a new house! As you can see, it’s been a good year in Northern Virginia!

Let’s start with that new job
In February Allison started a new job at the Torpedo Factory Art Center (TFAC). She works as the head torpedo designer and submarine captain…just kidding! The TFAC actually was originally opened to design and build torpedoes for the US Navy, but was later converted into 82 working artist studios and galleries. Allison is working as their graphic designer and as the gallery assistant in their national exhibition space, the Target Gallery. She really loves working there – not to mention playing with her boss’s new puppy Ralphy, who has become the unofficial gallery dog!

Bermuda, Bahama…
…well we weren’t exactly sipping pina coladas while relaxing under palm trees and listening to the beach boys, but we did have a great time on our annual trip down to the Dominican Republic. This was our third time visiting Orfanato Ninos de Cristo, and each year we fall even more in love with the kids! This year’s trip was a lot different from our past ones; usually we only travel with a small group of young couples from our church, but this year we partnered with our church’s teen ministry and brought down around 150 teens and chaperones. The group was fantastic and we were able to accomplish so much within the community, including visiting hospitals, jails, and rehab centers, washing the feet of hundreds of children and distributing new shoes, constructing a new home for one of the orphanage workers (who has been living in a shack with no running water), and SO much more! (We have several videos and photos on previous posts, but you can also see a video by clicking here and click on “Videos”, it is the 3rd video titled “Dominican Republic”) Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us over the years through financial contributions, time, and prayer!

Sign right here…and here…and here…
We’re home owners! Wow, this was a big step and we are having a blast. We bought a cute, two bedroom row house in the Del Ray area of Alexandria, VA. We started looking at places at the end of September, and by October 24th, after signing lots and lots of papers we were officially new home owners! It has been a lot of fun picking out paint colors, and we are taking our time settling in and making the new place truly our own. The house was built in 1942 and has a lot of quirks, but also a lot of charm. The previous owners left us a bundle of old letters that span the 1930s and 40s that they found in one of the vents when they were renovating the basement. They are all in German, but we can’t wait to have them translated. (Allison is hoping they are love letters, and Kevin is hoping they will be Nazi spy letters that will be worth a lot of money ☺. Our new address is below, and we hope you will come visit us in the new year!

Drum roll please!
Itching to know what the “very good news” is, aren’t you? We’ll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with diapers or bottles. Nope, no baby news yet, so stop asking ☺. The great news is that Allison’s dad, Dan, has finally been given a clean bill of health. After four long years of surgery, tests, chemo treatments and blood transfusions, the cancer is officially in remission! This is a huge relief to all of us and makes for a very happy Christmas.

This past year has had it’s ups and downs (as all years do), but God has blessed us in so many areas of our lives, and we have more than plenty to be thankful for.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!
God bless

Kevin & Allison Nance (and Francesca the bunny)

I am a big fat liar!

2008-12-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

pictures...I know! This week...we cleaned up and put up some christmas stuff up...so stayed tuned!

Why do I suck at blogging???

2008-12-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

seriously....it's like I just can't stay focused! I think my New Years resolution will be to blog at least once a week...well how about twice a month :)

So what is new with us? Well, as everyone already knows, we moved to a new house at the end of October. We've been painting and doing a few minor fixes around our new place. We painted our living room a beautiful (to us) chartreuse. It really looks great with our orange and dark brown furniture. The walls are pretty old and plaster, so it took several coats to get our tiny living room covered....and I think it still needs one more, but that's on hold.

Dining room we painted...wait for it...pink! ok I know you are probably wandering what the heck were we thinking, but the color actually looks great next to our black dining furniture - and it's not bubble gum pink, its a dark salmon. The world's smallest kitchen is a pale yellow - we knocked out part of the cabinets to move the fridge out of the way from the door to the basement (don't ask me why it was ever blocking the door to begin with). Next on our list is to change some light fixtures around, paint the master bedroom, paint the basement & install flooring down there too. Kevin ripped out some nasty carpet down there - covered in cat hair (I have a big cat allergy). Kevin also scrapped and sanded out upstairs banister (had about 60 years of paint built up on it).

We bought some new Christmas lights for our front porch (yay!) and will hang them up this weekend I hope!. I plan to take some good, new house photos and post them by next week. (I think I've said that at least twice already - but this time I PROMISE!)

Halloween 2008

2008-11-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

we have a lot more HILARIOUS photos from the night - think Kevin in very short running shorts rocking out to Billy Idol, Beastie Boys & Bon Jovi while singing/playing Rockband :)

yay new house!!!

2008-10-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

we have done it...we signed the papers today. we are now home owners, officially in debt and as my dad says - we are now true Americans :)

the last home owners left as a stack of old letters & photos that they found in a vent! the letters are span the 1920s-end of 30s. isnt that SO romantic. snag - they are all in russian and german to a guy named Wilhelm Bumenthal & we found one document in english stating who is german, but also went to school in Latvia. All postmarked to New York & then to DC on Connecticut Ave. and I guess at some point in our little home. I cant wait to find out what they say. I hope they are love letters (sigh) & kevin is hoping they are spy/war related :) Check our facebook page out for pics of our new place. tomorrow we are going in to spruce it up :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57260&id=716052586

Our new house - almost !!!

2008-09-28T16:05:00.000-07:00

we made an offer on a rowhouse in Del Ray, and they accepted our offer! yay!!! We are going to the home inspection on Wednesday & if all goes well then we are scheduled to close on October 24th. It's in Lynnhaven neighborhood (off East Glebe) 2 bedroom, 2 full bath, finished basement. There are a few things we want to do right away, like open up the kitchen and make it a little more than a hallway :)

Rachel Yamagata at the Birchmere

2008-09-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

we went to see one of my favorite singers at the Birchmere on Tuesday. it was great!

House Search

2008-09-26T18:53:00.000-07:00

we are house hunting! We have been browsing online for a long time and now our lease is about to be up at the end of October. So we went out with our agent on Wednesday and saw 4 properties in Alexandria - 2 townhouses, a house, and a condo - all in Del Ray. We really like one of the townhouses and also the condo. The house was the teeny tiniest house ever! and the other town house was a mess and spider infested.

We have plans to look at a few Old Town properties & one further up Duke St. on Monday, but we really really like the townhouse in Del Ray. We're going back on Sunday for their open house so we can see it in the daylight. We'll keep you posted!

2008-08-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

Finally some videos...

2008-08-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

here are a few videos, the quality is kind of low so I could fit them on here with out having to wait a long time for them to load, but if anyone from the trip wants high quality ones, or to see more then just send me an email. (sorry these are SO shaky)

First Day - This cracks me up (watch how Michele runs to the front and Marisol pushes her to the back)

Third Day (Monday) - Graduation Day - Paola, Glenni, Yulissa, & Heidy all graduated from highschool (you can see Kevin, Antony & April all running up to the front to get better pictures)

Fifth Day (Wednesday) The teens arrive

Fifth Day - our awesome step team - the teen girls from the orphanage loved these guys! (this ones long so I suggest just watching the first step part)

Last Day - Going away party

DR Photo...more to come

2008-08-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Allison & Carmencita - last night at the orphanage goodbye party

We are home...

2008-07-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

ok so our plans to post the video's didn't work, so I will be adding pics & video tonight :) Thanks for everyone's prayers & support, the trip went really great & and we can't wait to share more with you!

Greetings from the DR!

2008-07-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

So we have been here for 3 days (including our travling day. Saturday we left at 5:30 to get to Dulles airport, flew out at 8am, had a short layover in San Juan, and finally arrived in La Romana around 2ish. I slept the entire time so it went very quickly. We checked into our rooms at Casa de Campo & went to the pool right away - we knew this would be our only chance and it was great!

Sunday, we met with some girls that have been volunteering at the orphanage & compared notes about our needs and goals for our work there. They have been working with SCORE a group that has been working with the orphanage and they are gathering information about each orphan so that they can try to set up a sponsorship program. We ran lots of errands and then headed back to the hotel. Kevin and I squeezed 2 hours of beach time in at Playa Minitas which was SO beautiful! We even got a little bit tan - just a little though :) We then all took a few hours to visit the kids at the orphanage. It was a lot of fun to play with all of them and see how they are all getting so big - this is our third year here & some of the kids have changed so much. Also, the property has really grown - a new laundry/shower facility & the church and tech school is mostly finished. They have a ceramics teacher there that is teaching them a lot of cool things & one of the women at Casa de Campo is selling some of their pottery at the Marina & her store at the airport.

Today, Monday, we had a lot of planning for the girls retreat to get done. We are leading 2 sessions - one about the family & one about marriage. After that we went to Altos de Chavon, a great cobblestone village on the Casa de Campo property for lunch.

Tonight we went to 4 of the girl's graduation - it was of course a million degrees in the gym! All the girls were very dressed up (they wear what we would consider prom dresses under their grad gowns) & then we took them out to a fancy pizza place called Limocello's that was at the Casa de Campo marina. Afterwards we took them for ice cream & then gave them some "driving" lessons on our golf carts. Zuleika & Yulissa took turns racing around a parking lot :)

All right, that's it - we have a lot of errands to run tomorrow & logistical stuff to get done before all the teens (150 of them) come to town.

Thanks for everyone's prayers!!!

DR here we come...

2008-07-19T03:30:00.000-07:00

We are off to the DR (in less than 5 hours). Please keep checking back, we'll be posting videos during the week (well we will try to anyways :)

Thanks for everyone's support!!!

DR here we come...

2008-06-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

we are on our way to the DR from July 19th - July 30th. We just sent out support letters and included our blog address so people could stay up to date with our planning schedule. Here are a few pics from our last trip in 2007. Email us if you would like a copy of our support letter to find out about our upcoming trip! The last picture in the collage is from the first few years of the orphanage in their original location.

We'll be having a Wine & Cheese fundraiser at the Target Gallery (where I work) at the Torpedo Factory Art Center on July 11th at 7pm. Mark your calendars!!!

2008 in review (so far anyways...)

2008-06-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Hi all...so I haven't posted since early February. I'm going to post several in a row (mostly pics) from what's been going on in the life Kevin, Allison & Francesca :)

So scroll o down and check it out!

reunion...

2008-05-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

We met up with a bunch of friends from past DR trips to celebrate the return of Joey & Tracy Johnson, who had been living/traveling around India and into eastern Asia. We ate delicious Indian food at Panjshir in Falls Church (down the road from our place) & it was great to hear stories form their trip!

In the picture: Dave & Risa Marburg, Antony & April Fletcher, Joey & Tracy Johnson, Caroline & Tedd Baker, & us

Corbin's 1st birthday

2008-05-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

we had lots of fun at corbin's first bday ... who wouldn't with a moon bounce, elmo, and balloon animals :)

Trip to the National Portrait Gallery

2008-05-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

There was a great hip hop exhibit that featured graffiti, video, photography, installation & spoken word...and my favorite or the day- paintings by Kehinde Wiley

here are a few pics from our day there (I even went back with Mary for a work fieldtrip - you know, gotta keep in the know about the DC arts scene :) One image is from the hip hop show and the others are from 2 permanent exhibits in their modern art section (sculptors Duane Hanson & George Segal).

Check out the show here...

Sheryl & Joey's Wedding - May 3rd, 2008

2008-05-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sheryl is a good friend of mine from high school. Morgan and I were in the wedding party and we all had a great time. We stayed at the grand hyatt in Reston town center, and the rehearsal dinner was right there at McCormick and Schmicks. In the morning MOrgan and I walked to meet the gals to get our hair did at PR at Partners. There was a huge dog festival going on so that was a lot of fun :)

Her cousin from NY did our makeup and she did a fantastic job. We then all got dressed and took a limo to Raspberry Plains in Leesburg, VA where Sheryl got ready. The ceremony & reception were both there & everything was SO beautiful. The cake was made by her sister Alison who hand painted hundred of sugar flowers over 2 months to decorate it. She is so talented.

The wedding was a lot of fun ... the 80's rock band & the jelly bean favor bar was my favorite part...and I think Kev loved the sliders (mini burgers) we had at cocktail hour :)

Baby Adeline!

2008-03-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Cheryl & Matt's new baby!

On the way home from Jason's wedding we stopped outside of Richmond to see my good friend from high school's 1 week old baby Adeline...so tiny & cute!

Jason & Gray's Wedding

2008-03-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

We took a trip down to NC for our friend Jason's wedding. Kevin was one of the groomsmen and so was his brother Brad.

We stayed at the Crumps and had a lot of fun with them....as you can tell from all the photos :)

Easter...

2008-03-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny...

Easter dinner at Allison's parent's....Cousin Jayna & Jeremy with one of may favorite little people Gianna!

My "office" in Old Town

2008-03-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

well I wouldn't call it an office, let's call is a work space :)

and 2 pics of old town taken while Kevin was driving us home.

Visit from the Crumps

2008-03-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Amy & Peyton came to visit with some of our favorite kids, Asher & Ainsley!

Heather's visit home from Iraq & Saint Patty's Day

2008-03-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Heather Roed (my close friend from the church I grew up going to - Mexico Mission Shout Out!) came home for a week in March & we met up with her and her boyfriend Steve & Allison (another close friend from church & highschool/elementary school- and name stealer) and her husband Greg. We went to La Tasca in Old Town. Heather comes home for good in June!!

We celebrated Saint Patrick's Day & Claire's 1st anniversary of her 30th birthday by meeting at O'Connels with the Torpedo Factory gals and then moving the party to Union Street for one of their awesome burgers!

Sheryl's Bridal Shower

2008-03-01T18:58:00.000-08:00

A super cute brunch at The Heart and Hand in Clifton...
in the picture ... Morgan, Sheryl & Me

Valentines Party!

2008-02-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

We hosted a Valentines day dinner party. We held it at our Condo's club room which was a great space - lots of room, big kitchen, pool table, comfy couches, etc.

Go Corbin Go!

2008-02-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

Look who's crawling...

Show me those teeth...

Classic Dad

2008-02-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

A long over due update

2008-02-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

ok, so I did just post about my new job, but here are a bunch of pics of the last few months.
Kev & I doing the tourist thing...in front of the white house after visiting the Corcoran's Ansel Adams/Annie Leibovitz exhibit on New Years Eve.
Later that night we went to dinner at Argia's & then to Falls Church City's First Night Block Party (Jason & Gray were visiting, along with Brad & Jen and Sheryl & Joey). Here is a great pic of Joey & Kevin with Sheryl...getting ready to run and jump onto a velcro wall.

And then at midnight...watching the Falls Church Star drop...

I'll post a few more later :)

Torpedo Factory Job

2008-01-31T12:16:00.000-08:00

wow...I haven't posted anything new since December 4th! I will add some pics on here tonight, but for now the new news is...I got a great new job :)

I have been working for Blue Tulip as a graphic designer & invitation consultant. I was really enjoying it, but I saw a posting for a gallery assistant/graphic designer at the torpedo factory(an amazing art center in Old Town, Alexandria). I applied and I went on an interview & then they wanted me to do some sample design work for them for an upcoming exhibition and for their Spring open house....

well...I got the job! I am really excited. I loved working at emerge gallery when I was in school, and this is such an amazing opportunity. I am sad about leaving my current job b/c I love my boss Susan and district manager Lauren. It was certainly tough to give them my notice b/c I have a great time with them and it is so close to my home...but I just can't pass up the torpedo factory job :) And, who could ask for a better environment, right on the water front!

It's been a while

2007-12-04T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hi there...I know it has been a while since I last posted. Quick update and some pics...

For Thanksgiving we went to Pam & Keith's house with my parents and the entire Ferencz family. And then on the following Saturday we went to my cousin Jayna's place for dinner with my parents & my aunt and uncle.

Also, I started a new job doing graphic design at a store near our place that has a printing department...mostly invitations and stationary. fun :)

North Carolina Fun!

2007-11-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday we drove to Asheville for our anniversary and stayed at a GREAT bed & breakfast.

Asheville was such an awesome city...beautiful mountain surroundings along with so many great shops and restaurants. I don't think we saw one chain. The first night we ate at a place called Tupelo Honey Cafe. All the food (meat & produce) are local from the owners farm.

The next day we walked to downtown and spent the entire day walking around the shops and on Saturday we went to the Western North Carolina farmers market. We bought an obsurd amount of green beans and a bunch of other yummies. I already made homemade apple sauce, mashed sweet potatoes, and of course sauteed & boiled green beans.

Anyways, then we drove to Greensboro to spend the night with Kevin's sister Amy and her hubby Matt. They took us to a their favorite sushi place Sushi Republic for our anniversary. Then we stopped by this new hotel for a drink, Proximity, that is an all green hotel. It was very cool.

Sunday afternoon we drove over to Chapel Hill to visit Amy & Peyton and kids. We also got to see a bunch of college friends (Kevin's groomsmen) and also meet Jason's fiance Gray & Chris's girlfriend Katie. Peyton was my campus minister in college but he and Amy moved up to NoVa so we used to see a lot of them. Thankfully they are up here all week visiting so we are dogsitting for them b/c their friends they are staying with don't allow any pets.

Overall we had a really fantastic vacation. It was so nice just to get away, and have no plans (except to relax).

Happy 2nd Anniversary to us!!!

2007-11-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

Today is our 2 year anniversary! On Thursday we are taking a long weekend to a B&B in Asheville called The Chestnut Street Inn We are staying in the Zen Retreat room. We are staying there 2 nights and then driving to Greensboro, via Winston Salem to visit my old roomie Kathryn, and staying over night with Kevin's sister Amy and her hubby Matt. Sunday we are driving over to Raliegh to visit the guys & Amy and Peyton and kids :) Then home on Monday. We are Super excited for this mini road trip! I'll post pics when we get back.

Marine Corp Marathon

2007-11-04T00:23:00.000-07:00

Kevin's dad ran the marathon for the 2nd year in the row...and his time was almost an hour faster than last year...Go Sid!

Updates

2007-11-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Ugh...I have been SO lazy when comes to updating the blog...so here are some updates.

Brunch with family (Kevin & baby Gianna)

Guy time (Nate, JOey & Kevin)...while I helped Alison work on this, shall we say interesting, wedding cake

Babysitting Gianna :)

Reston Zoo with Morgan & Corbin (I don't know that we can say this is really a zoo...although their were a few very cute zebras)

Pumpkin Carving Party! (Alison, Allison & Kevin w/our awesome pumpkins)

Iron & Wine concert

2007-10-11T16:10:00.001-07:00

We had a really great time at the Iron & Wine concert! I got Kevin these tix for his birthday, 9:30 club was a great venue for it. Right after was the Roots concert which I WISH I had tix for! Afterwards we went out to eat at Jaleo, yum! The have the best Sangria!!

The Great Bunny Chicken

2007-09-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Francesca is going to be a chicken for halloween...

North Carolina Weekend!

2007-09-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had fun in NC visiting with friends and family!

Saturday we had lunch a SUPER cute place in Jamestown (near Greensboro) with Kevin's Grandma, Aunt Janet and Cousin Jennifer with her new baby!

I found this super cute chair that I really love...I'm always drawn back to orange!
We celebrated Kevin's birthday again with his family and with a bunch of friends that came from Raleigh and Winston Salem. It was SO great to see everyone, especially Kathryn, my college roommate who I hadn't seen in 2 years!

Family Reunion Time!

2007-09-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

Over Labor day Kevin and I went to PA with my parents for my family reunion. It was a great time (as always). We ate lots of food, watched videos from past reunions back from when my grandparents were young, played some bocce & mora, and had an all around wonderful time. We also had dinner with my Grandpap (my mom's dad) & splurged on the famous Hank's frozen Custard. Yum!

What's new?

2007-09-13T01:04:00.000-07:00

Hi there! so I haven't posted anything in while. We have been keeping busy. We celebrated Kevin's 26th birthday on Saturday August 25th (his bday is the 27th). Also, by bff Morgan's birthday was the 28th, so after Kevin's party we went to dinner to celebrate.

Fun with tomatoes!

2007-08-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

This Saturday we had breakfast with 4 of our favorite people, the Crump family, Amy, Peyton, Asher & Ainsley.

2007-08-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

We then went to the farmers market to buy some tomatoes for the cookout we were having later that day at my parents...

Happy Birthday Anita & Jeremy

2007-08-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend we celebrated my aunt's and my cousin's husband's birthdays with a cookout and some yummy cake from Cakelove.

Oh Baby!

2007-08-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

How cute is this baby?!!

Fabulous Stationary Contest

2007-08-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

I just entered the Fabulous Stationary Contest offered through decor8. Here is my submission, there are a lot of great entries!

Summer Garden

2007-08-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of my parent's garden. The brightly colored dahlia's and others on the front porch chair are to replace the ones that they neglected, and in turn killed while I was in the DR - plant murder. I'm desperate for my own garden...a 4th floor balcony does not count, no matter how large it is :)

We're back!

2007-08-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, we are back from the DR! It is great to be home in our own bed, but we have to admit that we miss those kids already, SO MUCH! Here are a few pics from our trip. There are SO many more so let me know if I haven't sent them to you yet :)

2007-08-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Paper Cakes???

2007-07-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I'm starting a small side business with my friend, also names Alison, (one "l" but she's still cool :)

She makes amazing cakes see one of my June blogs for the one she made for my bday. Anyways, we are making Cakes, Invitations & Favors. We've already had our first job which is super exciting!

We are taking votes on names for the business. We are playing around with Papercakes or Papercake. Votes? Ideas? Something clever since we are 2 Allisons?

Let me know!!!

Strawberry Fields

2007-07-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

So this was my first week off of work and it has gone by very quickly! It has been really nice to have some time to myself & to be able to spend time with friends. Monday I hung out with Morgan and Corbin & Tuesday I went to Katharine's for breakfast and to watch baby Jeremiah and see Lilly, then spent time with Sheryl and Morgan and Corbin :)

For the 4th, my parents came over and we had a great summer time meal and then went to see Die Hard (Tornado Warnings are not very conducive to lying in a field and watching fireworks).

That's about it...right now I'm finishing up reading Blue Like Jazz and watching "Live from Abbey Road" listening to Ray LaMontagne. Oh and if you haven't checked out Feist, you really should :)

Cute Baby Corbin....6 weeks

2007-07-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

too bad I deleted the good one, but he is SO cute isn't he??

Baby does the day feel long...

2007-06-28T06:46:00.000-07:00

Went to see the lovely Devon Sproule last night for her CD release party at Jammin Java. She was wonderful and didn't let down.

"’Keep Your Silver Shined’ rings with a sweet, heartbreaking majesty; these songs are beautiful, timeless and transporting."
- Davy Rothbart of This American Life

Dreaming of the DR...

2007-06-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

So, we leave for the Dominican Republic in 20 days and we just can't wait. The benefit dinner is this Friday and there is a lot of work to be done still, but after that there are no more fundraisers and we can enjoy the anticipation of seeing all the kids again!