There's a place up ahead that I'm going, just as fast as my feet can fly! Come away come away if you're coming, leave the sinking ship behind

If you know me very well, you know that I love oldies music. I was raised on it and I honestly think it is the best music out there. Anyways, there is a place out in Vienna Virginia (about 20 minutes from us) called Wolf Trap National Park. They have a HUGE outdoor amphitheater area and put on concerts and shows. We've been wanting to go, but tickets can be kind of pricey. BUT, we found out that CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revisited- not Revival, they haven't been since John Fogerty left the band years ago... but that's a different story). Basically, they are half of the original band and half of a cover band. Either way, CCR music is AMAZING and I really wanted to go. Then we discovered that instead of buying an expensive ticket, you can just buy a cheap general admission ticket to sit out on the lawn behind the amphitheater. I was sold!

Last night was the concert. It said that you could bring food, so we decided to treat ourselves and headed to Rockland's Barbeque to pick up some southern style bbq and root beers! The concert started at 8 and it said that seating was first come, first serve so we got there about 7:15 and it was completely packed! I mean the grass looked almost completely full. Luckily we were able to squish between some people and set up our blanket pretty close to the front. I had been a little nervous about bringing food in, but we had actually come under-prepared. Most people brought coolers full of fresh fruits and salads and bottle after bottle of wine! A swamp rock concert seemed a bit of a weird place for people to be bringing wine. We felt like we belonged a bit more with our pulled pork, fried okra and root beers! The weather was perfect for a picnic too.

The concert was great too. I love CCR music and Caleb and I agreed that they only played 1 song that we didn't know. I can't think of a more perfect night than picnicking out on the grass, dancing in barefeet and rocking out to some CCR music. Their last song of the night was Around the Bend, and the song starts by saying: "there's a place up ahead where I'm going, just as fast as my feet can fly! Come away, come away if you're comin', leave the sinkin' ship behind!" I love that song. And it was true, we left everything behind in DC and went out and had was felt like a perfect summer night at home relaxing and listening to good music. It was perfect.

Of course we got some good laughs out of it too. We can't decide who needs to work on their dance moves more, men over 50 or women over 50. Some of the people also probably should have taken it easy on the wine because they made serious fools out of themselves. There was one girl who insisted that everyone who walked past her had to twirl her - even men walking with their wives, small children, old men, security and policemen. Hilarious! We also got a really good laugh when they sang Fortunate Son with the lyrics "I aint no senator's son" and "I ain't no millionaire's son". We wondered to ourselves how many senator's and millionaire's sons there actually were jamming out to those lyrics....

We left in great moods, but its too bad they didn't last. The drive home should have taken 20 minutes tops. We got home 2 hours later. Apparently someone decided that Friday night would be a good time to literally close down every highway in and out of DC - 66 AND the Beltway especially. All of the 6 lane highways were closed down to 1 lane, all of the exits were closed and they forced everyone down one path. It was AWFUL. Words do not describe how angry I am at whoever made that decision - especially since we did not see anyone actually working on the construction. Oh well. I guess that's life in DC.

BUT Caleb and I weren't the only ones who had a fun weekend. This afternoon we took her to a swimming paw-ty with her pomeranian friends. The weather was real great, but there were probably 25 pom friends there. AND as an added bonus, Scarlett somehow talked Caleb into coming with us to the paw-ty. He's never felt cooler in his life!

I was pretty surprised that Scarlett wasn't a huge fan of the pool. We used to put her in the pool at my parents' house and she loved it! Maybe it was all the other dogs, the other people, or just a new environment, but she was not a huge fan and insisted on being with me the whole time. Since Caleb didn't feel like swimming with the dogs, he took a few pics for us!

 Look at what a good swimmer she is!!!

 Believe it or not she actually will jump in...

 Caleb's finger is in the way, but she's actually completely underwater in this shot after she jumped in. That's the tip of her tail out of the water haha

She chickened out after about 30 minutes of swimming (and started looking like a drowned rat), plus it really looked like rain, so we decided to pack up and come home. Scarlett is beat and Caleb and I need to get to bed early because tomorrow is my first day interning at the Pentagon and he is starting his new internship working for a House committee on Capitol Hill. It's crazy to say that is what we are actually doing. How did we get here? Oh well, bed time for us so we can be up and ready to serve our government in the morning : )

Fun Weekend!!

We had quite a weekend around here. Friday night our Sunday school class had an outing to the Nats game. It was the Battle of the Beltways (lame I know) so we watched the Nats play the Orioles. The weather looked like it might be a bit rough so we decided to drive into town and paid $5 to park under the highway about 1/2 a mile from the field. We hadn't gone 10 steps when it started to sprinkle a little. Little did we know that this was a sign of very bad things to come...

We met up with the other 10 couples outside of the gates and then it definitely started raining so we ran in and took cover. Our 7:05 game was immediately moved to 8:05 so we decided to head up to the top deck where are seats were. Everything was good until we got halfway up the open escalator and the sky opened up. We are talking MONSOONING! It was ridiculous. I was able to snap a pic of the rain and the rainbow that followed it, but we both looked like drowned rats and the humidity and my hair.... well we just won't go there.... so needless to say we do not have pics of ourselves.

We actually had a great time at the game. It started raining a bit more in the 2nd inning so half of the group left and it was down to about 5 couples.... the REAL baseball fans. The game was really back and forth, and besides the drunk minors sitting next to us, we really enjoyed it. But, since it was delayed, it was already 11 oclock by the time we hit the 7th inning stretch and since we had driven into town, we decided it was time to head out. Luckily the Nats had the game in hand : )

Saturday we bummed around the house for most of the day. The weather changes really gave my sinuses some trouble. Saturday night our Sunday School class reconvened to serve dinner at the homeless shelter. I had volunteered to bring 2 veggies, so I made 15 pounds of baked beans and 15 pounds of green beans. That is ALOT of veggies. We were running a tad behind when it was time to leave so I basically threw on my denim shorts, a shirt, my sandals and put my hair half back and Caleb had on khaki shorts and a polo. We get to the shelter, walk up to the door with our tubs of food, and when we said we were there to serve food, he gave us a funny look and asked us if we were residents. Ouch. Needless to say I will not be going out without makeup on again for awhile.... Luckily we did not run out of food this time and really had a good time serving with our friends.

Now this is where our weekend turned. Our original plan was to go to church and then I've been dying to go try out a local farmer's market in Dupont Circle. Scarlett had other plans. She had been messing with one of her feet since we got back from her attack at the dog park. Saturday night about midnight we got a good look at her foot and it was REALLY red and looked awful. We decided to try some neosporin and pre-wrap, but she just could not leave it alone. I think we both fell asleep about 4:45 that morning, which meant no church and definitely no farmer's market. So, unfortunately, we spent most of our Sunday in pretty grumpy moods, all three of us.

Don't worry, I remembered to call my dad! Although I was pretty bummed that my present didn't make it to Dallas in time. So I know that everybody says this, but I REALLY do have the best dad in the whole world. I'll admit it, I'm totally a daddy's girl, and this last year has been incredibly hard being 1500 miles away from my dad. I have so many great memories - from watching sports together (any sport, you name it!), going to games together, having him coach my teams, supporting me in the stands, helping me study, teaching me the importance of budgeting, our big trip across the states, lunch dates together when I worked at Crossmark, ski trips, giving me support and advice on anything whenever I need it, walking me down the aisle and dancing with me on my wedding night. He has always been there for me, no matter what. Even living far away, I know that he is always just a phone call away, whether that be for advice, comfort, or to celebrate the Dallas Mavs together! I love my dad so much and I am so glad that God blessed me to have him as my dad.

This has also been a special year because I have really gotten to know my father in law, who my nieces and nephews call Papa Jim! I don't know if I have ever met anyone with a bigger heart than Papa Jim. He cares so much for the whole family and would do anything for anybody. It is so nice to feel so loved and to know that there is someone praying for me all the time! I have loved having a father in law and could not imagine having a better one! I'm so lucky!

So that is our crazy weekend! I am really enjoying a low key week, in fact, it is my last free week because I start my internship on Monday! Yay!!!!! More on this later. Your update on Scarlett's foot, I took her to the vet today and after shaving her paw they decided that she had a trauma wound, most likely from the attack at the dog park last week. Luckily some benadryl, antibiotics and neosporin will fix her up in a few days! Well that's all I've got for now. Check back later... we have something really fun planned for the weekend!

The Final Countdown...

As promised, my last days in Georgia and what we have been up to since then!

Saturday was our last day in Tbilisi. We woke up and headed to the EUMM (European Union Monitoring Mission) in Mtskheta. This is part of an EU mandate to patrol the borders of the conflict zones. Unfortunately, they can only monitor the Georgian side of the conflict, because the Russians refuse to let them in on their side. They were incredibly interesting and offered an actual, on the ground perspective of the conflict. To hear them talk about how they find sources and what they monitor for as signs of conflict really was intriguing.

After the EUMM, we headed back to the hotel for a last lunch and to have a guest speaker from the village of Akhalgori in South Ossetia. This is a village of Georgians refusing to be ethnically cleansed from their homes. Unfortunately, their resistance does not help the Georgian cause, which means that the Georgian government has turned on the heroism of its own citizens and has turned off the electricity and gas to these people. Their life is very difficult and is monitored by people on all sides of the conflict. Tamar's story was unbelievably sad but also inspiring that she is willing to fight for what is right and true.

After lunch, we held our final meeting of the week and went over what we had learned this week. I'm not sure if this was a good thing, but our professor seemed pleased when I said that I felt like I was leaving more confused than when I came. I learned so much that now I'm not sure who is right, who is wrong, and how in the world they are going to resolve these conflicts.

After this meeting, Katie and I ran out into town to do a little bit of souvenir shopping. I didn't have much time because I had signed up to go to the opera. There were four of us who went and boy were we surprised when we got there and realized that the opera was in fact the ballet. It was okay, but was so long we had to leave at intermission to make it to the group's final supper. The other weird thing was that outside of the actual theater they were taking pictures for "Little Miss Eurasia." It is by far the creepiest thing I have ever seen in real life. It was a greek theme so they had all these little girls wearing togas and gold bracelets and TONS of makeup and fake eyelashes. Ew! I didn't really get a good picture because it was just so weird, but here was my attempt:

While we were in there, the sky opened up again and the roads of Tbilisi completely flooded. I've never seen anything like it except on the news when whole towns flood. Cars were floating, and the roads looked like raging rivers. It was crazy!!!

Luckily we made it to dinner at a place called Old House Tbilisi. They had live music and incredible food. It really was an incredible way to finish the week.

After dinner, most of the group went out, but I had to rush back to pack my bag because I was leaving for the airport at 2am. Between all my clothes, my books, and the few souvenirs I bought, I knew it was going to tight. Coming over, my bag had already been 5 pounds over the weight limit.... Luckily I got it all packed and the driver took both me and Amanda to the airport. If you are thinking that it would be empty at 2:30am, you would be wrong. It was PACKED. We finally pushed our way up to the front and checked in, unfortunately my bag was 30 pounds over the limit (80 pounds oops!) so I had to go pay the overage charge before they would give me my tickets. I went and they swiped my credit card at least 3 times before deciding that their machine wouldn't work until 5 am, so I had to go exchange money, go pay the other counter, and then go back through the long line to get my ticket. By this time I was in a foul mood. So of course, you know what is coming next, I was the lucky person chosen to get felt up by the security people. By the time we got on our flight to Istanbul at 4am, I was exhausted. I slept the WHOLE way to Istanbul, where I had another 5 hours to kill. (I am SOOOO glad that I will not have to visit that airport anytime soon).

After a Turkish version of an omelet, which came with french fries, and some orange juice and a few hours of retyping a week's worth of notes, it was time for the THIRTEEN HOUR flight home. I was excited to have an aisle seat, unfortunately the girl behind me decided to take up the entire arm rest and a few inches of my seat, the guy behind me kept digging his feet into the back of my seat and kicking me, and the guy next to me across the aisle thought it would be cool to sit on my arm rest and talk to the person caddy-corner to me. Seriously? 13 hours of this. Needless to say I did not sleep at all, BUT I did have a Harry Potter marathon and watched the first several movies.

Luckily, all my bags made it and when Caleb picked me up, he had several surprises for me, including: gummi bears, a new dvd, dinner at chili's AND he had set up the bathroom at home for me to have a PERFECT bubble bath. It was fantastic to eat good food and then just relax and defuse after a horrible flight. Thanks Caleb for being the best ever!

So what have we been up to since I got back? Well, Caleb had been working very hard at his internship. Unfortunately, I am still waiting on the bureaucracy to transfer my security clearance over, so I haven't been able to start my internship yet. Last week that was great so I could unpack and recover from jet lag. This week has been a little harder. As you can see from my previous post, Scarlett got a bad haircut that she is starting to grow into. Unfortunately, I decided I would be nice and take her to the dog park yesterday. We hadn't been there ten minutes when this beastly jack russell came and flipped her over and started attacking her! Luckily we pulled them apart pretty quickly, but the owner didn't even apologize! I couldn't believe it! Scarlett was pretty traumatized and refused to let me put her down so we had to go home. Needless to say, I won't be returning to that dog park!

On Monday, Caleb and I had a softball game in what has been dubbed "rivalry week." We played the other team from our church and..... despite me and caleb's two hits and 4 runs, our team got mercy ruled..... It was a rough night, especially since we are on a team of hot heads. Oh well,last night was the last game before the playoffs and we are going in as the number 2 seed, so I guess we'll see what happens!

Yesterday, Caleb and I had a special lunch date. In DC, they have a whole lot of food trucks. These trucks make anything from cupcakes to ice cream to pizza to barbeque to mac and cheese. ANYTHING! There is one truck that Caleb and I have heard endless good things about, the lobster truck. The problem is that it is so popular that it only posts where its truck is going to be for the 2 hours of lunch a few hours ahead of time. We have never really been able to track it down, UNTIL YESTERDAY! The truck parked a few blocks from where Caleb works, so we met up at a park and enjoyed lobster sandwiches, homemade root beer, cape cod chips, AND because it was national lobster day, free whoopie pies!!! It was a fantastic lunch date. So.... if you ever come to DC.... we'll try to track down the lobster truck for you!

Last but not least, who can forget that the Dallas Mavericks dominated and won the championships! We have been slightly superstitious and make sure we wear the same shirts on winning days and watch on the same tv... just to make sure they win! We like to take a little credit for the win : ) We are pretty bummed we can't be in Dallas today for the parade.

ANDDDDDDD, now you are caught up on our lives. Be sure to check back later this weekend because we have a very busy weekend planned!

Pet Salon Tragedy!

So I know everyone is expecting the last blog update on my Georgia trip, but something came up... I promise the last Georgia update by the end of the weekend.

When I got home from my trip, it was very clear that it was time for Scarlett to get a haircut. We try to wait as long as possible between grooms, but usually she can only go 6-8 weeks. When I got home on Sunday, not only was her fur ridiculously long, but she stunk. So..... I made an appointment for her to get groomed on Thursday. Caleb has been pushing me to shave her, but I just don't have the heart. I love her fur.

But... by Thursday we had already had 3 days worth of 100+ degree weather. I decided that I would let them take off a little bit more than usual. This is where the story goes downhill...

When I handed her to the groomer, we talked, like usual, about how much fur to take off. I told her we wanted to take a bit more off than usual since it was so hot. So we started talking numbers, 1/2 and inch, 1 whole inch. We went back and forth and I finally said. Okay, how about 1/2 an inch (thinking in my mind that we were still talking about how much TO TAKE OFF) So, I left her at the pet salon and went on with me day.

When I arrived back at the pet salon at 3:45, I was SHOCKED by what I found. Apparently somewhere in my conversation with the groomer, we had stopped talking about how much to take off and and how long her actual fur would be. So.... her fur was only 1/2 an inch long! When they brought her back to me, I thought they were handing me a cat. She looked ridiculous! After feeling so bad that I bought her some treats, we headed home. I spent the first 15 minutes of our car ride home laughing and asking her where her fur went, but then that laughter turned to tears. My poor furry dog!!!! The only good thing is that it will grow back... eventually. We are taking bets if you want in - Caleb has 2 week, Grace has 4 weeks, and I have 8 weeks.

It's been a little weird because our nickname for her is the fluff, but there isn't much fluffy about her anymore. So now we just call her naked, or naked fluff. While she initially LOVED her haircut yesterday and spent most of the afternoon sleeping on top of the air conditioner, she woke up this morning in a very different mood. You know how you love your haircut when you first get it, but when you wake up the next morning and realize you're stuck with it, you have a bit of remorse? My dog is going through that. She has spent most of the day either in bed or trying to hide in the couch. I'm not sure whether to laugh or to cry. Oh well, lately Scarlett has been a bit high and mighty, and this seems to have knocked her down a few notches, so maybe it's a good thing long term.

Before I post pictures of her new look, keep in mind that this is what she looked like in the month of May (so she was even furrier).....

And now..... for the moment of truth.... I give you........ NAKED FLUFF!!!!!! (don't laugh too hard)