Where did March go?

It's hard to believe it's the end of the weekend already -- not to mention the end of March! Kim had Monday off due to the Easter holiday, so she enjoyed sleeping in and relaxing all day. We also tried a new recipe on Monday night (chicken and broccoli stuffed manicotti), which turned out to be quite tasty.

As for the rest of the work week, we went to see a speaker (a high-profile Wall Street strategist) on campus on Wednesday. It was interesting to hear his thoughts on the economy and financial tips for this year. We were also fortunate to have Grandpa A. spend the night with us on Thursday. We went to dinner at a local restaurant/grill to watch the NCAA games, and had a great time chatting the rest of the evening.

The weekend was a flurry of activity. Friday, we went to a local comedy club for our friend Katie's birthday, and the headliner was Tom Wilson (Biff from Back to the Future). This comedy club actually has a full dinner menu, so it was fun to have a sit down meal while watching the opening acts. Tom was absolutely hilarious, and he had a number of funny songs and one-liners about Back to the Future, as well as jokes about his band experiences in high school.

Saturday we went back to Clifton Gorge for another nature hike -- this time with camera in hand! Last night we met up with our friend Owen to see the movie 21 (about MIT students who beat Lady Luck). We all enjoyed it, so if you're looking for a movie to see, this would be one to consider. And today? Typical Sunday stuff...errands, laundry and a trip to the gym. The good news is that it's finally supposed to warm up this week, and our flowers have started to peek through the ground!

Welcome to the new blog

Just a quick note to welcome you to our new blog. As you can see, we've moved all of our 2008 posts to the new site for your reading pleasure. If you're interested in what we've been doing for the past two years, you'll have to go back to the old page.

For those of you unfamiliar with this blog site, you do have the ability to leave comments on our posts, if you are so inclined.

Stay tuned for our usual Sunday post!

Hoppy Easter!

It has been quite the busy couple of weeks. Last weekend was the baby shower for Kim's friend, Erin. The preparation and clean up kept us from writing a blog last week, which we're sure angered thousands... hundreds.... dozens.... one or two readers (If that many!). We had a fun time hanging out with people who were in town for the shower on both Friday and Saturday night.

Sunday we waited with not-so-bated breath for the NCAA basketball tournament selection. Not surprisingly the Flyers didn't get to dance. They did, however, make the NIT. Despite the flood warnings (and the extra sump pumps in action at the Arena), we made it to the game on Wednesday and cheered the Flyers to victory. Though we made several bracket pics, it's becoming more and more apparent that a monkey could throw darts and have better picks than us. Sigh.

Of course, we can't forget Eric's birthday celebration this week. While he's an old man now, his lower car insurance was a nice present.

Last night we went to our friend Allie's place for dinner, and Peanut was invited to play with their 1-year old black lab, Bailey. Peanut has finally met his match, as the two dogs wrestled non-stop for three hours. Needless to say, Peanut fell sound asleep in the car on the way home and then slept in til 9 today. We've also caught him taking several cat naps throughout the day. We may have to make playdates with Bailey on a weekly basis!

Today, we celebrated Easter with Kim's dad and tried out a bunch of new recipies. We were pleased that they all turned out really well! And not to worry, the Easter Bunny did visit us.
We're gearing up for another busy week with the Flyers taking on the Redbirds (the alma mater of Eric's parents) Monday night. The steaks are high and the bragging rights even higher. Go FLYERS!

Merry Christmas?

Merry Christmas! What do you mean that was nearly three months ago? We have 14+ inches of snow outside...it can't possibly be March! And yes, you heard correctly. Between 9 a.m. on Friday and 5 p.m. on Saturday, we got hit with a lovely spring blizzard. With all the wind, there was a lot of drifting, and we ended up with close to 20 inches in some spots. But according to the weather people, our official count was at 14.

Fortunately for Eric, he had planned to work from home on Friday as we were scheduled to have our new living room carpet installed. We'd pulled up the old carpet on Thursday, hauled it to the trash, and moved all of the furniture. You can imagine our panic as we were faced with the realization that, if we really got the snow storm they had predicted, there was a chance that we'd be living with a cement floor for awhile. Yikes! Luckily for us, we ended up being the contractor's first stop of the morning (thank goodness, since they canceled their afternoon jobs), so we got the carpet in. Phew!

Unfortunately for Kim, she had not planned to work from home! While the drive in to work was okay, conditions got really bad quick. She decided to leave work at lunch and made a long and scary drive home, which included getting stuck on the big hill to our house.
We were very stir crazy all weekend as the only place we were able to go was the end of the driveway...to shovel. But we were able to finish our taxes, put the furniture back in place from the new carpet, and clean the house. Now if only we could get it to warm up 20 degrees!

Nature walk

Our weather this week looks like it was from "News for the weird." We woke up to freezing temperatures early in the week, and we had snow showers on a few days. Then this weekend, it was like spring had finally sprung! We were in the high 40s yesterday, and we hit 56 today. It was gorgeous!

We definitely took advantage of the nice weather, too. Today, we met Kim's dad for brunch at the old paper mill. Then we went for a hike in a local nature preserve. It was beautiful to walk on the alternating snowy/muddy paths and see the river rushing by. There were also two waterfalls on the trail. Unfortunately, we didn't have our camera on us -- so we'll have to go back soon! This afternoon we moved a bunch of furniture in the living room to prepare for the carpet installation this weekend. Tonight, Eric met Kim's dad (again) to see a "guy flick" at the theatre. They seemed to have a great time!

As for the rest of the week? It was pretty typical...busy work days, trips to the gym, and relaxing at home. Oh right, and worked on taxes. Which is not fun. Saturday was errand day with trips to the car shop and the party supply store (to stock up on decorations for an upcoming shower Kim is co-hosting). we're also taking the beginning steps to planning our deck (steps 1 and 2: price it out and create a timeline to see if it's feasible this year). Stay tuned!