Chincoteague and kittens!

Hi all!!!

Last weekend we saw "The Sound of Music" at Wolf Trap. We met our friends Ann and Eric there and had a picnic dinner whilst we watched the show. The musical is extremely different from the film! The girl who played Maria was horrible, but everyone else was okay. It was a beautiful night, but very chilly.

The next day we drove to Chincoteague Island for a little getaway. The beach area is a National Park but bikes get in free. We drove to the beach and laid out for most of the remaining weekend. We were able to park on the beach itself, and use our bikes for the rest of our transportation. There was also delicious ice cream and steamed seafood! No ponies, which the island is known for, were sighted as it was late in the season for them. :( However, this was not true for the mosquitoes (who liked Lauren the most!)

No one wanted to come home. It was very relaxing!

This weekend we were fighting off colds, and laid low. We went to the pet shop to look for a kitten for Zach, but none of the animals spoke to him :( It will happen though hopefully by the end of the week.

Zach received his security clearances this past week which is very exciting! Zach also found a blueray version of the BBC's Pride and Prejudice and the colors are incredible! We had no idea how washed out the colors are on the DVD!!!

The weather has turned chilly which has made Zach quite happy and Lauren furious.

No one is really looking forward to the coming week but surely something fun will come our way!

Updates!

Last weekend was the crabfeast, and Zach's family reunion. The crab feast is an annual work function, with all you can eat crab legs and Maryland blue crab. It is a great time for all and we ate our fill. It was nice to see work friends outside of work.

Sunday was Zach's family reunion which was in a pretty park near his parent's house. It was good to see his family and there was a magician for the entertainment. The magician was pretty good and Zach really enjoyed the animal tricks.

Tuesday was Lauren's last day at one of her jobs. She had a hard time saying goodbye to her students who were all sad to see her go. Lauren's new job is closer to her house and should be fun.

This weekend we really didn't do too much. We went to the movies and saw "Nanny McPhee returns". It was OK Zach enjoyed it but it made Lauren cry a lot. We also found a website that has a list of restaurants with gluten free menus. So we went to Uno's and tried out the gluten free pizza, pretty good and NO tummy ache!

Today we made applesauce!!! It is AMAZING! Lauren's apartment smells mighty yummy :)

Next week we have a lot of plans for the long weekend.

Ciao!

Bands, Fondue, and more!!!

Hi All!

Two weekends ago we saw one of Lauren's favorite bands "Arcade Fire" perform and they were fantastic. The violinist had this awesome hairdo Lauren wants to try where the top of her head is long but the sides and back are shaved. Lauren isn't sure she is bold enough to go that extreme so Zach shaved the back of Lauren's head for her. So far NO ONE has noticed!

We also went to "The Melting Pot" with some friends. It was a time consuming but delicious experience. We were there for four hours(!) eating amazing food and laughing a lot.

We went to National Gallery of Art to walk around and get Gelato. It was a beautiful day to be downtown.

This week Zach worked far too much but is making great strides in his project. Lauren worked and also starting researching new cars as her current car is getting up in years and mileage.

One of Lauren's studios had a BBQ Saturday afternoon which was awesome. Her boss makes some damn fine Virginia BBQ and slaw. We went to the movies this morning (its cheaper!) and saw "Scott Pilgrim vs the world" which was cute albeit long.

MAJOR NEWS!!! The Costco near Lauren is now serving Gelato!!!! The line was too long today to try it out but we are excited by this new development.

We hope this week will be brighter than the last :)

Busy Bees

Hi All!

This week was incredibly busy for both Zach and Lauren. Zach's project CORD is nearing the end which means he is in crunch time ie too much work. Thankfully no trips to Cleveland this time! It was mentioned...

Lauren ran a week long Musical Theater camp that was loads of fun and hard work. She introduced her students to Method Acting, Body Movement, Staging, and the most popular Stage Make-up. Saturday morning was the performance each student was given two duets to sing with two different people. Everyone did great! Lauren played the piano and Zach was a great page turner.

With both of us so busy we really didn't have any adventures this week. We did see "Despicable Me" again it is so cute! We also saw a Swedish film "The girl who played with fire" based off of the book by the same name.

After over a year and a half of begging Lauren finally got Zach to try out his dishwasher. It is currently running and Lauren has her fingers crossed that this will open a new era in kitchen cleanliness.

Sadly that is all we have to report. Hopefully this week will be calmer for the both of us.

Cheers!

Hot weather, scary food, and fun!

Hello All!

Hope everyone's week was well. This week we went to a Vietnamese restaurant where unknowingly Zach ordered the scariest item on the menu. Each time his chopsticks came out of the bowl he had to ask what food he had retrieved. The most unsettling being cubes of dried blood. Gross.

The heat has kept us indoors most of the week which is really ok because the Tour de France is on!!!!!! Lauren has been spending her mornings glued to the computer. This has been an extremely exciting Tour with none other than our favorite Luxembourger Andy Schleck in the maillot jaune! With only 1 week remaining she will savor the final days screaming at the cyclists.

We went to the movies this weekend and saw "Despicable Me" which was very enjoyable. We are considering seeing it again ;)

We also went kayaking this weekend and over-estimated our strength going further around the lake than we have gone before. It was a bit of a struggle to get back to the marina but completely fun.

Hopefully this week will be less busy than last. Zach has a deadline at work to meet and Lauren is preparing for her camp.

:)

Hiking Adventures!

Hi All!

It was so nice to see everyone the other weekend. We really enjoyed it :)

Last weekend was Lauren's birthday. Happy Birthday Laurens! It involved many birthday celebrations, including dinner at Pulchinella Italian restaurant with friends, dinner with her mom, and pizza at a unique sitdown pizzaria in Washington DC. This particular restaurant had a special treat in store: A nutella calzone! (dessert, of course) . We ate our full and walked around DC's Eastern Market section. This restaurant has made Lauren's list of favorites. We also went suit shopping for Zach, who decided he may need a suit that isn't 6 years old. He settled on a Hugo Boss suit, on sale. It fits him very well. We will play Jane Austen and James Bond movies as soon as he can pick it up.

This weekend was full of excitement. On Saturday, we hiked the mountain Old Rag (peak elevation 3246 feet) with some of Lauren's friends. We did this once last year, in a record setting 3.5 hours, out of a recommended 5.5 hours for the total hike. Zach lightened up this year and let us eat along the way.

It was about 8 miles of total walking. Sunday was spent sleeping and not moving. Sunday evening, we went to see fireworks at Germantown Soccer Complex. They were very nice, but the show was a little short and the music really didn't match.

Happy Fourth of July!!!!!!

Texas and Cycling

Hi all! Much to report!!!

Zach and Lauren went to Houston and Austin a couple of weeks ago. In Houston we took a tour of NASA and played in the interactive museum. The tour was very cool we got to see where the astronauts train. We also took a drive out to Galveston which was interesting. A hurricane had hit Galveston a couple of years ago and the town has yet to recover.

The next day we drove to Austin (Lauren's favorite US city). We walked around the UT campus, the state capital and ate Tex-Mex! Day two in Austin was really fun! In our attempt to go to Whole Foods for breakfast (Austin is their flagship store which is 3x the size of a normal store) we happened upon a triathlon! We had to park far from the store and dodge cyclists. What a wonderful town to shut down for a triathlon. We also went to Mellow Johnny's which is Lance Armstrong's bike store in Austin. Mellow Johnny is play on the french words "Maillot Jaune" (yellow jersey) for the leader's jersey in le Tour de France. Mellow Johnny's is by far the greatest bike shop either of us had been to. The staff was highly knowledgeable and helpful trying to sell Lauren a $3500 bike! We only left because we had to feed the meter and felt like kids in a toy store :)

Other highlights from the Austin trip were our visit to Barton Springs and the Salt Lick. Barton Springs is a pool which is fed from underground springs keeping the water a cool 68F year round. 68F is even too cold in 100F weather but it was amusing to watch people adjust to the water temperature. The Salt Lick is a famous BBQ restaurant that serves family style portions of mouth watering BBQ.

Zach didn't much care for the heat but Lauren was quite sad to leave Austin. Where else do you find a toy store that serves Vegan soft serve? :)

Most recently we attended two cycling races in Arlington VA. Northrup Grumman and the USAF sponsor these annual races. Miss America was in attendance and presented awards alongside Lauren's Dad.

We got to ride in the pace car during Saturday's race which was thrilling. The driver wanted to get us near the action and was passing cyclists who had been dropped by the peloton.

Looking forward to seeing everyone this coming weekend,

Lowie and Zach

Its been a while!

Hi all!!!

Its been a while since our last post. We've been busy bees.

This Friday Lauren went riding and suffered from heat exhaustion and dehydration. She's OK now but it took about a day and a half to recover. She has a nice bruise on her leg from falling which she's rather proud of :)

Zach is starting a new hobby learning about developing google phone applications. So far he can make it display "Hello." A journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step?

Other than that, we've been pretty good. We both work all the time, and sometimes get enough sleep for the day. We saw Shrek 4, which was okay. Much more dramatic and dark than the first one. (or 2 or 3). We saw Lauren's friend from college play in a baroque period quartet (violin, recorder, lute, and cello). It was in a beautiful setting at an old church in a pretty area of DC.

Next weekend - adventure! Expect pictures

Bye bye!

Lazy Sunday

Hello!

It has been a very tiring week. Zach had school projects and work projects to do. The nerve! Lauren has a new work schedule which is less than optimal for her (long long days). Zach got a kindle for us to play with. It is pretty neat! Lots of free books available, and we can get the newspaper on Friday to see free things we didn't even know existed in the city.

The meals this weekend were excellent. They included, but not limited to, Sushi at Yuraku, Chicken sandwiches and Julia Child's jambon (HAM sez zach) with some madeira sauce. T'was delicious!

Today we went kayaking. It was physically exhausting with around 900 Calories burnt. It was great fun to be so close to the water and one with nature. Lots of upper body workout that we will no doubt feel tomorrow (holding the laptop is tiring).

Zach has one paper to work on to graduate, and his last class is Tuesday. It is an occasion for everyone to celebrate.

Climate Rally

Zach is almost done with grad school! He has 2 projects left and then he's done! We played around with recording this weekend for his individual project. Great fun.

Lauren hosted her first piano studio recital on Saturday. Everyone did well and Zach got to meet Lauren's friends at work :)

Sunday we went to the Climate Rally downtown. The rally was packed! We got shoelaces made out of soda bottles, bracelets that change colors when in sunlight, and literature about "smart growth". The weather was typical DC weather hazy, hot, and humid. We escaped the heat and ducked into the National Gallery of Art which was deliciously cool. Our main goal though was gelato! Cherry Raspberry and Hazelnut Chocolate mmmmmmmmm :)

Bon appetit!

Zach got me Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" books the other week! I have since been reading them as if they were novels. So far we have made a couple of dishes all delicious. Today/last night I made croissants and I'm not sure I'll make them again as they were extremely labor intensive. Also they turned out salty which was disappointing.

We will try to remember to take pictures of the dishes we make :)

Welcome!

We thought this would be a nice way to keep in touch. We will post our activities and adventures as often as possible.