First Day

Well, today was Caleb's first day of law school. I got up early and made his favorite breakfast

Then we packed his bag, packed his lunch, and sent him on his way! All morning, Scarlett knew something was up. She laid by his backpack and acted sad.

Here is Caleb's first day of law school picture:

And here is Scarlett's "my dad just left on his first day of law school" face:

He had a really great day today. 3 different classes. Luckily the metro cooperated this morning and he had no problem getting to school. He seems to like his professors and his classmates pretty well. He was surprised that they weren't harder on them on the first day. I'm sure that they were just trying to be nice on the first day :)

I was so nervous for him last night that I ended up doing all of our laundry, cleaning the entire kitchen (including the refrigerator), doing the dishes, vacumning the entire apartment, and cleaning both bathrooms. Crazy... I know. I realized that I hadn't put up picture for the rest of the apartment! Here are pics of everything else but the office (its still a mess).

Caleb's bathroom

Of course there is a pic of George Washington

My bathroom

The bedroom

Caleb's side of the bed

My side of the bed

Closet

Well, I guess that's all I've got for tonight. Tomorrow is my last day of freedom. Wednesday is my career site visit day, Thursday is official orientation, and Friday is Introduction to the library day (I take it as a bad sign there is a whole day devoted to this)

Inspirational Trip

Caleb has been wanting to take an inspirational trip to Mt. Vernon before school started. We tried last weekend but when we pulled into the parking lot at 10am it was PACKED and we decided to abort the mission. We also decided that we we try again this weekend but made sure that we were there by 9am. Much better. We watched a movie about the trials and tribulations that Washington faced (the film was introduced by Pat Sajack in colonial garb- hilarious!), went on a tour of the mansion and then walked the grounds.

The Mansion

View of the Potomac from the back of the house

They have preserved the grounds as a real farm so we got to see lots of livestock and plants.

Me and Old George's mule

Caleb and the mule

Chickens

Pigs

We walked through the gardens and the orchards and looked at all the plants. They have a map that identifies all of the trees for you. We saw apples, plums, pears, peaches, and then it claims that there are cherry trees. In the entire orchard, this was the only one we found.

We thought it was weird that the single small limb was all that Washington's home had of a cherry tree, but then we remembered a particular story from history, reminding us that Washington was known to chop down his cherry trees.....

We were going to go to Baltimore last night to watch the Rangers play the Orioles but the Rangers have played so lousy lately, we didn't want to waste the money. Plus, Caleb already has tons of homework to do, even though school doesn't start until Monday.

Scarlett doesn't seem to understand that her mom and dad are going to be very busy studying and can't play with her all the time. She insists on being played with, to the point of making herself a complete pest. Caleb was trying to read last night and I caught this showdown

I'll let you guess who won this power of wills! I thought it was pretty cute.

New Identities

This story begins last Friday. Caleb and I decided that before school got crazy we better go and get our Virginia driver's licenses. The Virginia DMV has what seemed to be the coolest thing ever - you can go online and see what the average wait time is at all of the nearby DMVs. When we checked the website, it said that Arlington was 45 minutes, Springfield was 40 minutes, and Alexandria was 18 minutes. Obviously we chose Alexandria.

By the time we made it to the DMV in Alexandria, which I should mention here is a very diverse area, the line was literally out the door. We waited 20 minutes just to get our ticket and sit down. We also waited behind a girl who I have affectionately been calling "jammies" because she was not only wearing her pajamas and slippers, but looked like she had JUST rolled out of bed and smelled like she had last showered I don't even know when. Anyways, that is beside the point.

When we got out tickets, we were 37C and 38C. The board showed that they were on 28C. The 18 minute wait came and went. After about 20 minutes we finally found seats together. We quickly learned that there were MANY categories of people being called, in fact, there were A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, M, N, P, R, T, and X. Ridiculous right!

We sat, and sat and sat and saw some REALLY interesting things. Let's start with the girl who sat 2 rows behind us with her mom. She was there for her first license. We didn't hear anything out of her until another young guy sat down next to Caleb. Apparently they went to the same school before she got kicked out and sent to juvy.... o, and by the way, her mom won't let her out of the house until she gives birth to her baby. Whoa....

Next, we'll turn to Mr. Anger Managment. The DMV was set up so that there were about 12 counters at the front and then the rest of the room had chairs sitting and facing the counters so you could see what was happening. This guy was wearing work boots, shorts, a tshirt and a nationals vizer. He had been at the counter about 15 minutes and finally got through all of the paperwork to take his picture for his license. I guess the lady asked him to lower his chin but didn't take the picture fast enough for his pleasure. He voiced his displeasure rather loudly and rudely. The frightened worker then refused to serve him any further. This infuriated him. The manager then got involved. She explained the process to him and asked him to calm down. He was still mad that the other girl would not serve him. As he mouthed off about it being his tax dollars that kept the DMV open to serve him, a US citizen, the manager called for security. Things got really real really fast. As security touched him on the arm, it was like a bomb exploded. Obsenities, racials slurs, I mean EVERYTHING came out of his mouth. I actually remember judging the distance between me in him in case he tried to escape from the security officer/pull a gun. In retrospect, I was overreacting, but it was still incredibly scary and yet entertaining. I think the guy is a moron because he waited 1 1/2 hours, got all the way to the point of taking his picture, and just ended up getting escorted out by security.

We continued to wait. At the 2 hour point, they called my number. Unlike in Texas where all you have to do is show them your driver's license and a local piece of mail, Virginia seriously does a full background check. I had to have: my Tx driver's license, my social security card, my passport, my marriage certificate, and a piece of local mail. Ridiculous. PLUS, once I got to the window, the girl decided that my Verizon service order with my full name and address on it wouldn't work! Luckily, I had prepared for the worst. I brought an old pay stub with our forwarding address on it. She still wouldn't accept it! Because I had done a family forwarding and so it only had "Osborne" as the forwarding name, she couldn't verify it was mine.... EVEN THOUGH IT WAS A PAY STUB WITH MY NAME ON IT! I was about to pull a Mr. Anger Management and freak out on them, when the girl said she would ask her manager. Like I told Caleb, I had waited for more than 2 hours, I wasn't leaving without my license (ironic that is the same phrase that got Mr. Anger Management kicked out).

Luckily, the manager was a reasonable woman and said my verizon work order would work.... either that, or she saw the look in my eye and figured she didn't want to have a repeat and have to deal with Mrs. Anger Management. Next interesting thing about VA licenses.... you aren't allowed to smile! And, they're black and white. At that point, I didn't care. I gave them my best "neutral expression," paid my $30 and walked out the door. Caleb and I are trying not to spend money, but after that we had to go out to lunch and go shopping for a bit.

Anyways, all that story to say that our licenses came in the mail today. I seriously laughed out loud for 5 minutes when I opened them. I don't know if it's that they are black and white, I don't know if it's because we weren't allowed to smile, or if it was all the stress of 2 hours in the DMV, but they look like mug shots. Seriously. Ready to have a laugh?

Don't we make an attractive, happy looking pair? Best part... these will be our IDs until 2017. Whoop!

Grocery Store Appreciation Day

I am declaring today grocery store appreciation day. Most of you probably don't know, but to help Caleb and I earn a little bit of money, I am doing retail work for Crossmark. What exactly is retail work? Well, I'm glad you asked. There are 2 types, resets and projects work. Project work is where you go into individual stores and do a task by yourself- example: this week I have to go to 9 CVS's in the area and

a) measure their gastro intestinal section and report back its size and
b) set up sunscreen displays and make sure that everything is stocked.

Not bad, especially because it is flexible. You get assigned tasks and have 2 weeks to go do it. Perfect for a student. Alright, then there are resets. Let me preface this by saying, STEPHANIE HATES RESETS. These are where you go into a store as part of a team and do a HUGE (usually 4-8 hour) project. Last week, I was assigned to my first reset. I met with 10 of my new "friends" in Mclean, VA at a grocery store. We proceeded to take EVERY box of cereal off of the rack, change the aisle from being 4 shelves to 5 shelves and then completely reorder, restock, tag, and stock all of the cereal. You can imagine how fun it was.

Now, on to why today is grocery appreciation day. Today I started day one of a three day, 8 1/2 hour a day project. Fun, huh. I was told it was a reset in Centreville (45 minutes away). When I showed up, I found an ethnic grocery store under construction. But to my surprise, this was not so much a reset as much as it was a set up....

Have you every wondered how all of the food in a grocery store got put in its place, how it all fit correctly, how it was organized, continually stocked, etc? Drum roll please..... yes, that was me today. I walked into an empty grocery store with 25 pallets of food that were taller than me. We had to lug the boxes down the aisles to their general "food group." Then we had to build all of the shelves. Next, we had to organize and figure out how to fit everything nicely on the shelves, then place all the price tags. Next we had to unpack all the boxes and stock the shelves. There were 20 of us there and we worked 8 1/2 hours. We finished 1 and a half aisles..... ya.

So, in honor of all my hard work today I am declaring it grocery store appreciation day. The next time you are in the grocery store, take a moment to appreciate the food you are taking off of the shelves. Say a silent thank you to the people like me who get up at the crack of dawn and kill themselves so that the food is so nicely organized for you. If you take something off of the shelf, put it back in its spot and make sure its facing forward. Because you know why.... when you don't.... people like me get up at the crack of dawn and come back behind you and spin it back to face forward. : )

Anyways, enough of that. Tomorrow is Caleb's first day of law school orientation, so if you get a moment say a quick prayer for him tomorrow. I know he's going to great! Well, I better start heading to bed... I have to be in my car on the road at 6am tomorrow. Ah, a day in the life of a grocery store resetter.

WE MADE IT!!!!

WE MADE IT!!!! And it seems like so much has happened since I last posted I have enough info for 100 posts! Here is the brief version.....

Micah and Kelsey are married!!!!!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the reception so much fun! I officially now have my 4th sister! Sunday after the wedding, we had one last family lunch with Caleb's family before my parents picked us up to hit the road. We thought it would be a good idea to leave the uhaul at the church and just have them pick us up in the 4runner and then go back to the truck because Caleb's street is so hilly. However.... we didn't think about that the car would have the seats down in the back and be completely packed with stuff. So..... this is how me and my mom road back to the uhaul

It was interesting but at least it distracted us from crying as we drove away. Our first stop was Nashville. I should probably stop here and say that the only pictures I took between here and DC were of Scarlett. By the end of each day, having driven/rode in the 4runner with the dog or in the uhaul I was so tired and so gross I definitely didn't want to take pictures of myself so......

Here is Scarlett at the hotel in Nashville

Here is Scarlett in the hotel in Harrisonburg, VA

Here is Scarlett in our new place saying please don't put me in the car anymore!

We finally made it in to Arlington, VA around lunch last Tuesday and the moving craziness began. The initial plan was for us to live here for a year and then move somewhere else. Let's just say that after moving everything in here, we won't be going anywhere for a long time.

We are learning that the 9th floor has its advantages and disadvantages. It took a couple of days but we have finally convinced Scarlett to use her puppy pad on the balcony. We still try to take her down to the park out front at least once/twice a day, but for the rest of the time, the balcony it is!

We thought it would be nice that we are facing the park and not the busy street and mall, which it is, BUT the park has a public soccer field and I promise you people are out there 24-7 playing. We like to leave our balcony door open for some fresh air, but then you have to listen to them hoop and holler over there. Caleb thinks we should find the schedules, pick teams and actually start following them.

Alot of people have been asking, and where we live is technically Arlington, VA. We live in an area called Pentagon City which is right on the metro. We live just down the street from the Pentagon, just across the river from DC, and just North of Alexandria. If you walk out our front door, you walk straight to a park. If you walk straight out the back door, you walk about 20 feet into a Nordstroms (HEAVEN!!!!) Attached to the Nordstroms is a Ritz Carlton and a 4 story mall full of EVERYTHING you could ever want. The metro itself is actually beneath the mall so its SUPER close. Across the street from the mall is a California Pizza Kitchen, Best Buy, Costco, Nordstrom Rack, and a Mexican food restaurant that's not too bad (yay!) If you walk the other direction, there is a nice area called Pentagon row. It's got lots of shops/cafes on the bottom floors and then apartments above. There is a Champs, Bally's fitness, Bed Bath and Beyond, Smoothie King, Harris Teeter (our grocery store), etc. etc. So we basically live within reach of anything we could need. It took about 2 days to find but if you drive 2 miles we can get to a Target and a movie theater.

Even though our apartment is not that big it has taken FOREVER to get everything put away. We also had to wait a week once we got here for them to come set up cable and internet (which is why this blog post is so delayed). It is just now finally starting to feel like a real house. Here are a few pictures of the more "finished" rooms:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this kitchen. The one in our first place (which I from here on will refer to as "the hole" was so old and nasty. This kitchen has stainless steel appliances, and an oven that actually works, a nice microwave, a sprayer connected to the sink, the dishwasher actually cleans the dishes, and there is counter space! AHHHHH I LOVE it! I drug Caleb to Whole Foods with me to load up with good food (his comment is that he approves of the food but doesn't feel very manly in there so from here on out I have to shop by myself). My mother-in-law also makes the BEST chocolate chip cheesecake, so to honor my new kitchen, I made one:

Here are a few pictures of/from our balcony.

Our view of the soccer field

My plant and Scarlett's puppy pad

Scarlett LOVES her new home

Ok, this is the last room I'm posting for the night. When you first walk into our apartment, there are two closets immediately to the right. One is our linen/trash/cleaning supply/junk closet and the other is the pantry. The kitchen is to the left and the living room walks straight through to the balcony.

Yes, I know. We have alot of books..... We also want to put a few pictures on the wall but we can't seem to find any good ones... like old black and white or DC landmarks etc. We're still looking but its a good start. Our "entertainment center" is actually 4 different pieces from ikea (Caleb hated me for making him put them together but they were cheap!) and then our tv. I LOVE it! It makes it look like an entertainment center even though its just bookcases and dvd shelves. As you probably noticed, no, we do not have a dining room table. Sadly, it was one of the pieces of furniture that did not make it out of College Station when the trailer was too full. Sooooo, until further notice we are eating on TV trays. I kind of like it. I think it fits us... two poor students living in the big city haha. O well.

Well, I better turn in. We tried a church last weekend that we liked and are going back to visit a Sunday school class there tomorrow. I'll update again soon and show off some of the other rooms! Also, if there is anyone else that you think would enjoy reading this or keeping track of us, feel free to pass it along! Goodnite!